A Fragile Dignity Despite Their Rags and Tatters

Gustave Doré, born in Strasbourg, France, in 1832, was one of the most prodigious artists of the 19th century. According to Dan Malan, one of his biographers, his nearly 10,000 engravings and 3,000 book editions made him the most prolific and popular illustrator of all time. Doré also produced around 400 oil paintings as well as watercolor landscapes, mixed media sketches, and sculptures. Accord-ing to another Doré biographer, “The speed with which he drew was legendary, and his output was as noteworthy for its quantity as for its quality.” Vincent van Gogh referred to Doré as an “Artist of the People ” because Doré directed his work to the masses through his popular literary folios. He worked as a carica-turist and professional illustrator when he was just 15 years old. Doré illustrated texts by Dante, Rabelais, Perrault, Cervantes, Milton, Shakespeare, Hugo, Balzac, and Poe, plus the English Bible. The publication of his engravings in Dante’s Inferno in 1861 brought him international fame. Doré contributed 180 engravings to the book London: A Pilgrimage (1872), written by Blanchard Jerrold. Though commercially successful, the book spurred criticism as Doré included stark images of the poverty and despair he encountered during his time in London. The Westminster Review noted, for example, that “Doré gives us sketches i