THE FANTASTIC GUSTAVE DORE

This glorious, authoritative, and unprecedented retrospective of Doré’s prints and paintings, drawn from an oeuvre of more than 10,000 works, comes in a spectacularly ornate package that reflects the artist’s own dramatic style. From the Bible to Shakespeare, Balzac to Milton, Cervantes to Poe, Doré’s intricate, romantic, and exuberant drawings and paintings were turned into steel and wood engravings, bringing great novels and adventures to life. Furthermore, as this magnificent book reveals, he was also a skilled sculptor, painter, and cartoonist. Spectacular production, which features quarter binding, gold foil stamping, embossing on the cover and spine, a belly band, and silkscreen printing on three edges. Includes a small section in color with later landscapes and water colors. This book spans Doré’s entire career, with chapters dedicated to specific works such as The Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, and medieval fairy tales -- each featuring exquisite full-page reproductions that allow Doré’s genius for line, shading, and texture to shine through. The authors also provide a background on the techniques that Doré employed to achieve his exquisite works. Includes incisive analysis and expert historical perspectives. Very impressive production. This concentrates mostly on his b&w illustrations, with just a relatively small section at the end showing some of his paintings. Thus, it nicely complements earlier books which have often neglected his actual published illustrative b&w works, and concentrated on his paintings from which all the engravings were derived.