DORE, GUSTAVE (1832-1883)

"The Dream Of Pilate's Wife" (1879)
engraving
cm
signed lower left
*private collection, Sydney
 
Doré was a famous 19th century French artist, printmaker, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with wood engraving, and was well known for illustrating several important national publications, including the Bible. 
 
He painted the picture on which this print is based for the Doré Gallery, a permanent exhibition of his work which had opened in London in 1868. The Doré Gallery was visited by two and a half million visitors before it closed in 1892. The British Evangelist Charles Surgeon considered the pictures "the greatest collection of religious paintings in the World". 

The Doré Gallery attracted religious pilgrimages and ministers who preached sermons on the paintings. This original, hand-signed engraving is also represented in the V & A Collection in London.