Gustave Doré

A carte-de-visite portrait of the French artist Gustave Doré (1832-1883). Chiefly known as a prolific illustrator, he was also active as a painter, etcher and sculptor.

A precocious talent, he exploded onto the Paris art scene at the age of fifteen, and by the following year he was the highest paid illustrator in France. Theophile Gaultier dubbed him ‘the boy genius.' As well as thousands of satirical caricatures, during his career he produced closely worked engravings of scenes from Rabelais, Dante, Cervantes, the Bible, Milton and Poe. He was so prolific that one time he employed more than forty blockcutters. His work is characterised by a highly spirited love of the grotesque and represents a commercialisation of the Romantic taste for the bizarre. Drawings of London done in 1869-1871 were more sober studies of the poorer quarters of the city.

Photographed by Elliott and Fry of London.