This artist is highly regarded within the field of book illustration and considered by some to have been the true master of this art form. He would eventually provide illustrations for works by Cervantes, Rabelais, Balzac, Milton, and Dante as well as a large project which brought the Bible to live in a breaktaking contribution. This has inevitably led to some confusion with regards the correct attribution of his work, but there remains little doubt over the individual elements of his most famous series of drawings. Generally, all of these artworks would be given his own signature, even if most of the work had been completed by other members of his studio. With around 10,000 illustrations having come from his hand, he would start to move into more of a supervisory role in which apprentices would complete more and more of his tasks, as he watched on. Once his reputation has soared he would enjoy commissions from major figures all across Europe and he needed help to translate his drawings into woodblocks for the purposes of publishing each book. Alonside all this, there were also cartoons, caricatures and other printing techniques such as lithographs which took his skills as a draughtsman into many different avenues of artistic expression.ĭoré held a great experise in different printing techniques but in order to keep up with the demands on his services he would inevitably need to bring in additional support.

Doré's career stands out as relatively unique within French 19th century art because of his mastery of multiple mediums alongside his impressive knowledge with regards the techniques of printmaking. This ambitious and equally curious man would also learn the techniques of sculpture, oil painting and watercolours to a high degree, bringing further variety to his oeuvre.

Doré would tackle a wide range of themes within his work, focusing on both religious narratives as well as more modern commentary. These exceptionally detailed creations would be developed into published books with the aid of his large studio of assistants. The biggest achievement from his prolific career would have to be the illustrated books that he worked on across his lifetime, which totalled nearly 100. The style of his content was undoubtably Romanticist in nature, with sprawling landscapes and emotive content which was fairly typical of 19th century France.

The divine comedy gustave dore