Paul Gustave Doré ( ;
January 6, 1832 – January 23, 1883) was a French
artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with
wood engraving and
steel engraving.
Life
Doré was
born in Strasbourg
and his first illustrated story was published at
the age of fifteen. At age five he was a prodigy artist
already creating drawings. When he turned 12 he began to carve his
art in stone.
Doré began work as a literary illustrator in
Paris
. Doré commissions include works by
Rabelais,
Balzac,
Milton and
Dante.
In 1853 Doré was asked to illustrate the works of
Lord Byron. This commission was followed by
additional work for British publishers, including a new illustrated
English
Bible. In 1863, Doré illustrated a
French edition of
Cervantes's
Don Quixote, and his illustrations of the
knight and his squire
Sancho Panza have
become so famous that they have influenced subsequent readers,
artists, and stage and film directors' ideas of the physical "look"
of the two characters. Doré also illustrated an oversized edition
of
Edgar Allan Poe's "
The Raven", an endeavor that earned him 30,000
francs from publisher
Harper & Brothers in 1883.
Doré's
English Bible (1866) was a great success, and in 1867 Doré had a
major exhibition of his work in London
. This
exhibition led to the foundation of the Doré Gallery in New Bond
Street. In 1869,
Blanchard
Jerrold, the son of
Douglas
William Jerrold, suggested that they work together to produce a
comprehensive portrait of London. Jerrold had gotten the idea from
The Microcosm of London produced by
Rudolph Ackermann,
William Pyne, and
Thomas Rowlandson in 1808. Doré signed a
five-year project with the publishers Grant & Co that involved
his staying in London for three months a year. He was paid the vast
sum of £10,000 a year for his work. He was mainly known for his
paintings, contrary to popular belief about his wood carvings. His
paintings are world renowned, but his woodcuts are where he really
excelled.
The book,
London: A Pilgrimage, with 180 engravings, was
published in 1872. It enjoyed commercial success, but the work was
disliked by many contemporary critics. Some critics were concerned
with the fact that Doré appeared to focus on poverty that existed
in London. Doré was accused by the
Art Journal of
"inventing rather than copying." The
Westminster Review
claimed that "Doré gives us sketches in which the commonest, the
vulgarest external features are set down." The book was also a
financial success, and Doré received commissions from other British
publishers. Doré's later works included
Coleridge's
Rime of the Ancient
Mariner,
Milton's
Paradise Lost,
Tennyson's
The Idylls of the King,
The Works of
Thomas Hood, and
The Divine Comedy. His work also
appeared in the
Illustrated London News. Doré continued to
illustrate books until his death in Paris in 1883.
He is buried in the
city's Père Lachaise
Cemetery
.
Gallery
Works
Doré was a prolific artist; thus the following list of works,
though extensive, is by no means comprehensive (e.g. it does not
include his sculptures, paintings, nor many of his journal
illustrations):
List of Works
| Date |
Author |
Work |
Volumes / Format |
Illustrations |
Publisher |
Ref |
| 1854 |
Rabelais |
Oeuvres contenant la
vie de Gargantua et celle de Pantagruel ... |
1 vol. 4to. |
Frontis. & 15 |
J.Bry Ainé, Paris |
|
| 1855 |
Honoré de Balzac |
Les Contes Drôlatiques |
|
425 |
Société Générale de la Libraire, and in Le Journal pour
Tous |
|
| 1856 |
|
Fierabras d'Alexandrie, Légende Nationale traduite par Mary
Lafon |
1 vol in 8vo |
123 |
Librairie Nouvelle |
|
| 1856 |
|
Mémoires d'un Jeune Cadet, par Victor Percival |
|
48 |
|
|
| 1856 |
|
La Légende du Juif
Errant |
1 vol. grand in folio |
12[35512] |
Michel Lévy |
|
| 1857 |
Dante Alighieri |
L'Enfer |
|
70 |
|
|
| 1857 autumn |
Ed. de La Bédollière |
Nouveau Paris, Histoire de ses 20 Arrondissements |
1 vol in 4to |
150 |
Barba |
|
| 1857 autumn |
Valéry Vernier |
Aline, Journal d'un Jeune Homme, |
|
one large page |
Dentu |
|
| 1860-1862 |
Thomas Mayne Reid |
L'Habitation du Désert, |
1 vol. in 16mo |
60 |
Hachette |
|
| 1860-1862 |
Ann S. Stevens |
La Fille du Grand Chieftain |
1 vol. |
15 |
|
|
| 1860-1862 |
M. V. Victor |
Flêche d'Or |
1 vol. |
13 |
|
|
| 1860-1862 |
E. S. Ellis |
L'Ange des Frontières |
1 vol. |
10 |
|
|
| 1860-1862 |
N. W. Buxted |
Les Vierges de la Forêt |
1 vol. |
10 |
|
|
| 1860 |
William Shakespeare |
The Tempest |
1 vol. in 4to |
|
(London) |
|
| 1861 |
|
Les Figures du Temps, |
1 vol. in 12mo |
|
(Paris) |
|
| 1861 |
Plouvier and Vincent |
Les Chansons d'Autrefois |
in 12mo |
|
Coulon and Pineau, Paris |
|
| 1861 |
Edmond
About |
Le Roi des Montagnes |
1 vol. in 8vo |
157 |
Hachette and Co., Paris |
|
| 1862 |
Saintine |
Les Mythologies du Rhin |
1 vol. in 8vo |
165 |
Hachette and Co., Paris |
|
| 1862 |
L'Abbé Léon Godard |
L'Espagne, Mœurs et Paysages, |
2 vols in 8vo |
4[35513] |
Alfred Mame et Fils,
Tours[35514] or Paris |
|
| 1862 |
Malte-Brun |
Les États Unis et le Mexique |
1 vol. in 4to |
|
Brun, Paris |
|
| 1862 |
|
Histoire aussi intéressante qu'invraisemblable de
l'intrépide Capitaine Castagnette, neveu de l'Homme à la Tête de
Bois |
1 vol. in 4to |
43 |
Hachette |
|
| 1866 |
|
Aventures du Baron de Münchausen, traduction nouvelle
par Théophile Gautier
fils |
1 vol. |
|
(London) |
|
| 1863 |
M. Épiné |
Légende de Croquemitaine |
1 vol. in 4to |
177 |
Hachette |
|
| 1863 |
Gastineau |
La Chasse au Lion et à la Panthère |
1 vol. in 8vo |
|
Hachette and Co. |
|
| 1863 |
Miguel de Cervantes |
Don Quixote de la Mancha translation by Louis
Viardot |
2 vols. folio |
370 |
Hachette and Co., Paris, and Cassell and Co., London |
|
| 1863 |
|
Les Contes de Perrault or in Spanish Los Cuentos
de Perrault |
|
100+ |
Hetzels. in Spanish by Ledouse |
|
| 1865 |
Gastineau |
De Paris en Afrique |
1 vol. in 12mo |
|
(Paris) |
|
| 1865 |
A. Masse |
L'Histoire d'un Minute |
1 vol., 12mo |
|
(Paris) |
|
| 1866 |
Victor Hugo |
Travailleurs de la Mer |
|
|
Sampson Low and Co., London |
|
| 1865 |
E. Edgar |
Cressy and Poictiers |
1 vol. in 8vo |
50+ |
(London) |
|
| 1865 |
Thomas Moore |
L'Épicurien (French translation) |
in 8vo |
|
(Paris) |
|
| 1865 |
|
Falmy Realm |
in folio |
|
(London) |
|
| 1865 |
Quatrelles |
Le Chevalier Beautemps |
grand in 8vo |
|
(Paris) |
|
| 1865 |
Chateaubriand |
Atala |
2 vols, grand folio |
80 |
Hachette Edition |
|
| 1866 |
Théophile Gautier |
Le Capitaine Fracasse |
1 vol. grand in 8vo |
60 |
Charpentier |
|
| 1866 |
G. La Bédollière |
Histoire de la Guerre en Mexique |
in 4to |
|
(Paris) |
|
| 1867 |
Dante Alighieri |
Il Purgatorio ed il Paradiso |
|
|
Hachette and Co. |
|
| 1866 |
X. B. Saintine |
Le Chemin des Écoliers |
1 vol. in 8vo |
450[35515](not all by Doré) |
Hachette and Co. |
|
| 1866 |
|
La Sainte Bible, according to the Vulgate, new
translation |
2 vols. grand in folio |
200+ |
Mame, Tours; Cassell and Co., England |
|
| 1866 |
John Milton |
Paradise Lost |
|
|
Cassell and Co. |
|
| 1867 |
La Bédollière |
La France et la Russie |
|
|
(Paris) |
|
| 1867 |
|
Les Fables de Lafontaine |
2 vols. in folio |
8 large and 250 small plates |
Hachette and Co. |
|
| 1867 |
|
Les Pays-bas et la Belgique |
in 8vo |
|
(Paris) |
|
| 1870 |
Thomas Hood |
(Poems) |
2 vols. in folio |
|
Ward and Lock, London |
|
| 1870 |
Samuel Taylor
Coleridge |
The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner |
grand in 4to |
40 large and 3 small drawings |
|
|
| 1873 |
|
New edition of Rabelais |
2 vols. in folio |
|
Paris : Garnier; London: Chatto and Windus |
|
| 1876 |
Louis Énault |
London |
1 vol. in 4to |
174 wood engravings |
Hachette and Co. |
|
| 1874 |
Baron Ch. Davilliers |
L'Espagne |
in 4to |
309 wood-engravings |
Hachette and Co.; London: Sampson Low and Co. |
|
| 1875 |
Michaud |
Histoire des Croisades |
2 vol. medium folio |
100 grand compositions |
Paris: Hachette and Co. |
|
|
Alfred Tennyson |
Idylls of the
King |
|
|
|
|
| 1877 |
Ariosto |
Orlando Furioso |
|
36 drawings |
Hachette and Co. (London: Ward and Lock) |
|
| 1884 |
Edgar Allan Poe |
The Raven |
|
26 steel engravings |
London: Sampson Low and Co., New York: Harper and Co. |
|
References
Notes
Bibliography
- (80 illustrations, earliest photogravures of Dore
paintings)
- (141 illustrations)
- (138 illustrations)
- (314 illustrations)
- (103 illustrations)
- (30 illustrations)
- (521 illustrations, reprinting most of the Delorme
photogravures)
- (exhibition book: 591 illustrations)
- (343 illustrations)
- (500 illustrations)
- (exhibition book: 160 illustrations, 120 in full-color)
External links
- Doré's grave site at Cimetière du
Père Lachaise

- German FTP with Dore illustrations
- Dore Bible Gallery
- Gustave
Dore Art Gallery
- Art
Passions Doré online gallery
- Gallery of Illustrations by Gustave Doré
- (24 MByte PDF with 120 illustrations)
- SurLaLune Fairy Tale Illustrations of Gustave
Doré
- Bible Illustrations by G. Dore, Christian website compiling Dore's numerous
Biblical illustrations
- The "Dore Vase" in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, a
massive bronze that was exhibited to acclaim at Chicago's 1893
World's Columbian Exposition and later moved to San Francisco
- Gustave Doré's Illustrations for 'Don
Quixote'
- More of Gustave Doré's Illustrations for 'Don
Quixote'
- Dore-illustrations (Bible, Dante, Ariosto,
Rabelais, Milton, Cervantes, Tennyson, Poe, crusades, sketches) in
the "History of Art"
- World of
Dante Doré Dante illustrations in the World of Dante
gallery
- Doré's illustrations for several books
- Elbert Hubbard's account of the
life of Gustave Doré