History Creator / GustaveDore

Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré (6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French graphical artist, painter, printmaker, sculptor and illustrator, though he is most famous for the last profession. He used wood engraving to illustrate scenes from various iconic pieces of world literature, such as the poems of Creator/LordByron, ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'', Literature/TheBible, ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', ''Theatre/TheTempest'', the fairy tales of Creator/CharlesPerrault, ''The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen'', ''Literature/DonQuixote'', ''Literature/ParadiseLost'', ''Literature/TheRimeOfTheAncientMariner'', ''Literature/IdyllsOfTheKing'', ''Literature/OrlandoFurioso'' and ''Literature/TheRaven''. Many of these drawings have become the ''definitive'' visualizations of these classic stories and are about as iconic as the tales themselves.

** [[http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2011/10/the-new-jerusalem.jpg The New Jerusalem]], where many rays through the high clouds pour glory on the city.

->''"One of the most acclaimed and successful artists of the nineteenth century was also one of the inventors of comic books, and arguably the originator of much of the vocabulary of the graphic narrative. That was Gustave Doré."''

* BoredWithInsanity: Dore's illustration of ''Inferno'' Canto 34 shows the Devil trapped at the bottom of Hell enduring the worst pain imaginable for the nine thousandth year with his his head leaning on one hand and his face filled with nothing more than apathy.

* {{Chiaroscuro}}: Gustave Dore's wood-carved illustrations often have one intense source of light standing in contrast to a deeply dark environment, all without any color. Take his illustration of [[http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/purgatory/gallery/0122buonconte.jpg Buonconte's death]] in the ''Purgatorio'', where a bright flash of lightning and a white angel stand in contrast to a stormy night, a black ocean, and a demon covered entirely in shadow.
* CrucialCross: ''The Triumph of Christianity Over Paganism'' sees an ocean of demons, false gods, and idols driven into the darkness by the light produced by Christ's cross.

* TheGrimReaper: Dore only illustrates one of the Four Horseman: Death. Dore shows includes the scythe and the pale horse mentioned in [[Literature/BookOfRevelation Revelation]], but includes mysterious flowing robes, emaciated skin, and winged demons following him throughout the sky.

* KrakenAndLeviathan: Dore took a brief metaphor about levaithans in [[Literature/BookOfIsaiah Isaiah 27]] and created an illustration of an angry GrandpaGod chasing a mile-long sea serpent into the depths of the sea at sword-point.

* PlantPerson: Even though suicides in ''Inferno'' were described as being fully [[{{Transflormation}} Transflormed]] into trees, Dore illustrates them as persons who have had their limbs turned into branches and their skin transformed into bark. All of the suicide-trees appear contorted, pained, and miserable at their fate.

* WouldHurtAChild: A lot of his illustrations depict children dead, dying, or in immediate mortal peril, like ''The Massacre of the Innocents,'' ''The Deluge,'' and ''The Enigma.''

* DramaticThunder: What are the odds that just as [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dor%C3%A9%27s_Bible_Illustrations#/media/File:005.Cain_Slays_Abel.jpg Cain slays Abel]], a lightning bolt would strike past? Pretty low, but nonetheless, Dore uses the bolt in the background to make God's disapproval visible.
* EnergyBeings: Several of Dore's works (like ''[[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dor%C3%A9%27s_Bible_Illustrations#/media/File:002.The_Creation_of_Eve.jpg the Creation of Eve]]0 portray God as a body of light to demonstrate His incorporeality and transcendence.

* MamaBear: "The Massacre of the Innocents" and "The Deluge" show mothers trying in vain to save their children. (One of the figures in "The Deluge" is a mother ''tiger'' trying to keep her cubs above water.)

* WouldHurtAChild: A lot of his illustrations depict children dead, dying, or in immediate mortal peril, like "The Massacre of the Innocents," "The Deluge," and "The Enigma."

* WarIsHell: In order to visualize the destructiveness of battle, ''The Enigma'' portrays a muted wasteland occupied by broken weapons, mutilated corpses, and an angel looking in torment into the face of the Sphynx, which looks back at him dispassionately. The message seems to be that the devastation of war prompts any worthy soul to ask 'Why?' but there is no answer.

* WarIsHell: In order to visualize the destructiveness of battle, ''The Enigma'' portrays a muted wasteland occupied by broken weapons, mutilated corpses, and an angel heartbroken by the war.