Dore

Dore, Gustave (1833-1883), a French engraver and painter, born at Strasburg. He came to Paris when twelve years old, and when fifteen was exhibiting pen and ink landscapes in the Salon. In 1848 he was engaged on illustrated journals, and in 1854 produced his first continuous work - a set of illustrations to Rabelais. In 1856 appeared his illustrations to The Wandering Jem and to the Contes Drolatiques of Balzac. In each of these he showed his great powers in producing effects weird, horrible, and grotesque. Who can forget the scene of the Jew taking off his boots at the Last Day, or the view of a besieged castle in the Contes Drolatiques, where everyone has his spear or sword in somebody else, and the eye by going from weapon to weapon is led throughout the picture ? His Inferno in 1861 exhibits the same power of depicting horrible scenes. Then followed the Contes of Perrault, Don Quixote, Purgatorie, Paradiso, Paradise Lost, the Idylls of the King, La Fontaine's

Fables ,- but his later works show a great fallingoff, the natural result of over-production. Dore was also a painter, but in this department of art he did not excel, though his work is not without its admirers. Christ Leaving the Prcetorinm, and the Entry into Jerusalem are well known, and the Dore Gallery in London was well visited. He also made some attempts in sculpture.