Masterpieces From The Works Of Gustave Dor

An artist who worked across many media, the multi-skilled Gustave Doré remains unequalled as a supremely talented illustrator, whose detailed and imaginative engravings for major works of literature – from Cervantes’s Don Quixote to Dante’s Divine Comedy, and even the Bible – have hugely influenced the way we see many cultural and literary characters and still inspire today (David Beckham has a tattoo on his chest of Doré’s The Agony in the Garden). This sumptuous new introduction to the artist focuses on these illustrations, first introducing you to his life, work and the rich seam of illustration history that he continued and ignited, from Blake and Fuseli to today’s newspaper comics, before presenting a carefully curated thematic selection of his finest and most important engravings. From his vision of Jacob Wrestling with the Angel to Crossing the River Styx, the work of this most prodigious and much borrowed-from artist is represented in glorious full-page reproductions.

Masterpieces from the Works by Gustave Dore is a beautiful collection of some of Dore's best-loved illustrations. Ollier's insightful commentary on the images enhances the reader's appreciation of Dore's art. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in the art of illustration, as well as for fans of Gustave Dore. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

New edition of the excellent introduction to Gustave Doré's paintings, engravings and illustrations of the world's greatest literature, from The Bible to The Divine Comedy. An artist who worked across many media, the multi-skilled Gustave Doré remains unequalled as a supremely talented illustrator, whose detailed and imaginative engravings for major works of literature – from Cervantes’s Don Quixote to Dante’s Divine Comedy, and even the Bible – have hugely influenced the way we see many cultural and literary characters and still inspire today (David Beckham has a tattoo on his chest of Doré’s The Agony in the Garden). This sumptuous new introduction to the artist focuses on these illustrations, first introducing you to his life, work and the rich seam of illustration history that he continued and ignited, from Blake and Fuseli to today’s newspaper comics, before presenting a carefully curated thematic selection of his finest and most important engravings. From his vision of Jacob Wrestling with the Angel to Crossing the River Styx, the work of this most prodigious and much borrowed-from artist is represented in glorious full-page reproductions.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1887 edition. Excerpt: ... THE VULTURES AND THE PIGEONS La Fontaine's Fable tells us how once there was a quarrel among the Vultures over the body of a dead dog, which resulted in a terrific encounter. "With tooth and nail They battled; many chiefs fell dead, Many a dauntless hero bled." All this aroused the pity of the Pigeons, who succeeded in pacifying the quarrellers; but they, as soon as they were united, turned against the defenceless peacemakers. In the illustration a long array of vultures are seen swooping down on the huddling pigeons, while indications of the preceding struggle are shown in the distance SATAN AT THE GATES OF HELL. The result of the consultation of the fiends assembled in Pandaemonium is? that search shall be made into the truth of the prophecy or tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature, to be created about that time. Satan himself undertakes this perilous and difficult enterprise, and sets out on his journey towards the gates of Hell. These he finds of threefold substance, each substance three times repeated;--"Three folds were brass, Three iron, three of adamantine rock, Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire, Yet imconsumed. Before the gates there sat On either side a formidable shape. The one seem'd woman to the waist, and fair, But ended foul, in many a scaly fold, Voluminous and vast, a serpent arm'd With mortal sting: about her middle round A cry of hell-hounds never ceasing bark'd With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung A hideous peal. . ..... The other shape--If shape it might be call'd that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb, Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd For each seem'd either; black it stood as night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, ...

Excerpt from Masterpieces From the Works of Gustave Dore Selected From the Dore Bible, Milton, Dante's Inferno, Dante's Purgatorio and Paradiso, Fontaine, Fairy Realm, Don Quixote, Baron Munchausen, Croquemitaine, &C., &C The rarest quality in the modern msthetlc system is imagination. It is the fashion to-day to sneer at the creative faculty as it-existed in earlier phases of art. Among artists of the modern school, especially in France, literary art, that is, creative and imaginative art, is regarded as naive, rustic, crude. It was among painters of this class that D'ore found his worst enemies. But the people loved him - the people of France and the people of England. He told them world-old tales in a new, sweet, brilliant way, adorning them with the beauty and glamour of his genius. Art that appeals to the heart, the intellect, the love of humanity, and the aspiration of the human soul towards grand ideals, is the art that outlasts change and fashidn, death and decay; and this was the art of Gustave Dore. In his lighter moods, as in those more serious, he shows in even the smallest details of creation the universality of genius. There is something that reminds one of Goethe in the many-sidedness of Dore's productive faculties. The quality of sympathy, which is the attribute only of the rarest creative natures, made of him a German mystic at one moment, a gay Gaulois the next. It was doubtless to Dore's Alsatian ancestry, birth and early education, that was due this union of French and German temperamental characteristics. The archi tecture of Strasburg, the landscape of Alsace, the German folk-lore of nurses and peasants, were the formative artistic influences of his youth. Then came Paris, with its thousand hints and suggestions reacting on the eager young mind and stimulating it to constant exertion. Travel in foreign countries completed the cycle of experience that made Dore the great master of human souls that he was. He was not only a creator in the highest sense, but he was an interpreter, of a kind rare in the world's history. He acted as a link between the humanity of books and history and the humanity of every-day life - of the London streets and the Paris cafes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

These 135 fantastic scenes depict the passion and grandeur of Dante's masterpiece — from the depths of hell onto the mountain of purgatory and up to the empyrean realms of paradise.