DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36582#0031
THE DO RE GALLERY.
5
and mysterious intimations of Rembrandt; his atmosphere shows all the soft degrees
and infinite extension of the natural air ; while his power of suggesting colour, especially
as exhibited in the stormy tumult of light and darkness, almost equals, in plain black
and white, the varied pigments of the palette. Some of these results are obtained in
part by the method of drawing which M. Dore follows whenever it suits his purpose.
Such of his drawings as require unusually strong contrasts he paints upon the block, so
to speak, with a stiff brush dipped in Indian ink. Some, it is said, are drawn in opaque
white upon a block previously stained black. He thus secures a greater breadth and
intensity of colour than he could possibly derive from the comparatively meagre lines of
the common lead-pencil, and he compels the engraver to work in great masses of light
and shadow, rather than by a finer and more minute process. With artists and wood-
engravers it is a matter of controversy whether this method of tinting on the block is
allowable. It certainly has a tendency to destroy the original character of wood-engraving,
which depends for its most legitimate effects on a free, and sometimes even rough, use
of definite lines. The smaller sketches of M. Dore are generally executed in this manner,
and are often characterised by a simple and quiet beauty, in singular contrast with the
lurid grandeur of his more ambitious works. But it cannot be denied that his Indian ink
effects are among the most remarkable results of his peculiar genius, and that he has thus
been enabled to attain a degree of pictorial richness which amounts to the discovery of
a new power in wood-engraving. It is evident that in no other way could M. Dore,
working on the block, have brought before our eyes the prodigious glooms and baleful
fires of Tartarus, as represented in the illustrations to Dante and Milton ; nor have piled
such masses of dark rock-architecture, nor spread such clouds of forest shade, as we see
in many of his works; nor have struck upon his page such contests of light and dark,
such lowering of overshadowed heaven, such wrath of storm and bickering of celestial
flames, as startle us in several of his designs from the Bible. The thing may at times
degenerate into a mannerism; it may indicate too great a willingness to excite by
vehemence of contrast, rather than to elevate by depth of intuition; and, assuredly, in the
hands of third-rate imitators, such a style would soon pass into vulgarity and trick.
But M. Dore is privileged by genius to work out his conceptions after his own methods ;
and, in the case of a mind so marvellously productive, repetition itself is an evidence, not
of poverty of ideas, but of strong faith in the excellence of certain developments of art;
in fact, of imaginative intensity and strength of will in a particular direction. This quality
of imaginative intensity is indeed one of the most remarkable of M. Dore s characteristics,
and, taken in conjunction with his fruitfulness and his variety, is indisputable evidence
that he possesses the great, mysterious gift of genius. Mere talent may pour forth thousands
upon thousands of sketches, and amaze us by the unresting activity of its work; but the
work will be frivolous or dull, not earnest and exalted. Or mere talent may once in a
way, by some lucky and unaccountable accident, reach a sudden elevation of grandeur;
5
and mysterious intimations of Rembrandt; his atmosphere shows all the soft degrees
and infinite extension of the natural air ; while his power of suggesting colour, especially
as exhibited in the stormy tumult of light and darkness, almost equals, in plain black
and white, the varied pigments of the palette. Some of these results are obtained in
part by the method of drawing which M. Dore follows whenever it suits his purpose.
Such of his drawings as require unusually strong contrasts he paints upon the block, so
to speak, with a stiff brush dipped in Indian ink. Some, it is said, are drawn in opaque
white upon a block previously stained black. He thus secures a greater breadth and
intensity of colour than he could possibly derive from the comparatively meagre lines of
the common lead-pencil, and he compels the engraver to work in great masses of light
and shadow, rather than by a finer and more minute process. With artists and wood-
engravers it is a matter of controversy whether this method of tinting on the block is
allowable. It certainly has a tendency to destroy the original character of wood-engraving,
which depends for its most legitimate effects on a free, and sometimes even rough, use
of definite lines. The smaller sketches of M. Dore are generally executed in this manner,
and are often characterised by a simple and quiet beauty, in singular contrast with the
lurid grandeur of his more ambitious works. But it cannot be denied that his Indian ink
effects are among the most remarkable results of his peculiar genius, and that he has thus
been enabled to attain a degree of pictorial richness which amounts to the discovery of
a new power in wood-engraving. It is evident that in no other way could M. Dore,
working on the block, have brought before our eyes the prodigious glooms and baleful
fires of Tartarus, as represented in the illustrations to Dante and Milton ; nor have piled
such masses of dark rock-architecture, nor spread such clouds of forest shade, as we see
in many of his works; nor have struck upon his page such contests of light and dark,
such lowering of overshadowed heaven, such wrath of storm and bickering of celestial
flames, as startle us in several of his designs from the Bible. The thing may at times
degenerate into a mannerism; it may indicate too great a willingness to excite by
vehemence of contrast, rather than to elevate by depth of intuition; and, assuredly, in the
hands of third-rate imitators, such a style would soon pass into vulgarity and trick.
But M. Dore is privileged by genius to work out his conceptions after his own methods ;
and, in the case of a mind so marvellously productive, repetition itself is an evidence, not
of poverty of ideas, but of strong faith in the excellence of certain developments of art;
in fact, of imaginative intensity and strength of will in a particular direction. This quality
of imaginative intensity is indeed one of the most remarkable of M. Dore s characteristics,
and, taken in conjunction with his fruitfulness and his variety, is indisputable evidence
that he possesses the great, mysterious gift of genius. Mere talent may pour forth thousands
upon thousands of sketches, and amaze us by the unresting activity of its work; but the
work will be frivolous or dull, not earnest and exalted. Or mere talent may once in a
way, by some lucky and unaccountable accident, reach a sudden elevation of grandeur;