Gustave Doré

Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré was born in France on 6 January 1832 and spent his career turning classic literature into images the masses could afford. His wood-engravings for the Vulgate Bible and Dante's Divine Comedy became international bestsellers, printed simultaneously across countries using electrotype cylinder presses. He produced over 10,000 illustrations as designer—rarely cutting the blocks himself—but critics of his era remained cool even as the public bought everything he touched. Writers like H. P. Lovecraft and Théophile Gautier admired him, and the centuries after his dea…