[Up] [Gustave Doré] [Erté] [Arthur Rackham] [Kay Nielsen] [Edmund Dulac] [Willy Pogany] [Maxfield Parrish] [Sulamith Wulfing] [Harry Clarke] [Virginia Sterrett] [Jessie M King] [Thomas Mackenzie] [Warwick Goble] [Dugald Walker] [Violet Brunton] [Reginald and Horace Knowles Collection] [Frank C Pape] [Ida Rentoul Outhwaite] [Rene Bull] [Paul Woodroffe] [Evelyn Paul] [Edward Burne-Jones] [William Russell Flint] [Heinrich Lefler and Joseph Urban] [Sidney Meteyard] [Leon Bakst] [Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale] [John Bauer] [Adrienne Segur] [Duncan Carse] [Daphne Allen] [Sidney H Sime] [Florence Anderson] [Dorothy Lathrop] [Vernon Hill] [Edward Julius Detmold] [Anne Harriet Fish] [Gustaf Tenggren] [Leo Bates] [Evelyn de Morgan] [John Byam Shaw] [Ivan Bilibin] [Newell Convers Wyeth] [Jean de Bosschere] [Richard Doyle] [The Petit Collection]       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home
Up

 

The Art of Gustave Doré

 

 

Gustave Doré (1832-1983) is one of the great artists associated with the Golden Age of Illustration.

 

The Gustave Doré Collection at Spirit of the Ages includes art images from some of Doré's seminal work. As a valuable reference resource, options are also provided for purchasing a range of gifts, including reproduction prints, posters and greeting cards.

 

The genius of Gustave Doré is one of the marvels of 19th Century art. The range of

Pagan and Christian imagery exhibited through his work belies a colossal imagination and a magnificent apprehension of all possible conditions of human experience. His lofty

insight into the mysteries of Spiritual existence as reflected from Earthly actualities entitle

him to be classed among the great creative geniuses of all time.

 

When the viewer considers any of his illustrations - including those accompanying

Michaud's History of the Crusades, Dante's Inferno and Purgatory and Paradise, and

Milton's Paradise Lost - the exquisite use of light and shade, rhythmic movement and

 

Above, we show a vintage

photograph of Gustave Doré

dramatic composition is unmistakable. In one word, his work is sublime.

 

It has been claimed that no artist has ever been more familiar with the subtleties of colour that form the gamut of tones

and semitones between black and white, nor handled them with greater skill and delicacy. In some ways, it is as though

human nature has been thoroughly imbued with the allegorical - as well as the artistic - significance of nature's great

resolvent: tone.

 

Doré's art appeals to the heart, the intellect, the love of humanity and the inspiration of the human Soul towards grand

ideas. It is art that outlasts change, fashion, death and decay. In his lighter works, as in those that are more serious, Doré

shows in even the smallest details of creation the universality of genius. His art illustrates famous allegory on a colossal

scale - to delight young and old.

 

One can form the impression that something supernatural and unearthly, something that belongs to the realm of the

unseen has been revealed through the genius of Doré. To the lovers of his drawing, Doré presents a splendid

phantasmagoria of shapes that never were on sea or land and yet are intensely real, warm and vital. In doing so, he is

sympathetic to Nature in all her phases, adding an intuitive and instinctive grasp of the Soul of cosmic forces.

 

We invite you to take the time to peruse the wonderful artwork from Gustave Doré that is included in the Collection - to view images from any one of Doré's suites listed below, simply 'click' on the hyperlinks embedded within the titles and the images.

 

 

History of the Crusades

100 images

Inferno

76 images

Purgatory and Paradise

60 images

Paradise Lost

50 images

 

 

 

 

 

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ The Medieval and Renaissance Collection ] [ About Us ]

Send mail to ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2007 Spirit of the Ages
Last modified: 11/23/09