CDV portrait of author Victor Hugo, bearing the imprint of Maison Martinet at 13 Rue Vivienne, Paris, with a dealer's stamp for Albert Hautecoeur and the name Coleaz, shows the author in a three-quarter seated pose in his later years. Hugo appears in a dark frock coat, white shirt, and cravat, his full white beard and swept hair immediately recognizable. He is turned slightly to his left, one arm resting on the arm of an upholstered chair, his expression calm and composed.

The mount is plain card stock with the studio imprint in purple on the reverse, along with handwritten notations reading "V. Hugo 18" and "1802–85 / Hugo," suggesting the dates were added after his death as an identifying or collecting notation. A dealer code reads "8/9/09 / 6F."

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) produced some of the most enduring works in the French literary canon, including Les Misérables, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and the poetry collections Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles. He served as a senator and remained a vocal public figure until his death in Paris at age eighty-three.