Customer Reviews

Dore's Illustrations for "Paradise Lost"

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dore, known perhaps best for his woodcuts of Dante's "Divine Comedy", was not only a fantastic illustrator, but a prolific one as well, producing scores of woodcuts for great literature, including "The Holy Bible" and "Orlando Furioso". Before there were movies, a person could look at these pictures for motion, excitement, and dramatic storytelling.
This is a necessary companion to "Paradise Lost", a great work in its own right. Dore's illustrations clarifies, vivifies, and expands on the reading experience. The pictures are brilliantly reproduced here at a small cost to the consumer. The book stands alone for great artwork and is worth the minimal price.

It is amazing how such complex woodcuts could be done! Some of these are used in books. An example is the book cover illustration of the book "Raising Hell: A Concise History of the Black Arts and Those Who Dared Practice Them" (ISBN: 0399522387).

If you like to see high standard of woodcuts, get this book.

This is with out a doubt the best of Gustave's biblically inspired works. His mastery is proven by creating a visually stunning and poetic world of a time long ago but not forgotten. It's hard to remember what I used to imagine when I thought of the Garden of Eden or the descension of the fallen angels must've been like prior to reading this work.