His astonishing artwork was an instant success, catalyzing his career and appearing in more than two hundred editions of Dante in the century and a half since. Unable to find a publisher who was willing to take a financial risk on the lavish folio edition he envisaged, Doré self-published it in 1861. In 1855, nearly three decades before his engravings for Poe’s “The Raven,” Doré began working on a series of etchings for Dante’s Inferno ( public library). Dante’s poetry endures as one of our civilization’s most enchanting creations - so much so that it has inspired generations of artists to interpret and reimagine it, from William Blake’s breathtaking etchings for the Divine Comedy to Salvador Dalí’s sinister and sensual paintings for the Inferno.Īmong the most memorable and bewitching reimaginers is the celebrated French illustrator, sculptor, printmaker, and engraver Gustave Doré (January 6, 1832–January 23, 1883), who considered Dante’s work a “ chefs-d’oeuvre of literature.”
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