The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-06-09

THIS is surrey very pleasant No human-hearted
ut reoices at the sight of talent and industry
rewarded, and no ono can deny that Doro has
canned his celebrity tnd good fortune BY an indus
rous and most sincere application OF extraordinary
talents. His industry is no less marvel than his
genius. still young man the IS not yet thirty
thousand, and hrs pencil acquire. great facility
every year in the magic art OF transferring to wood
Train. 1heophi Gautiec, with excess Of entbu-
siasm pardonAbe in French critic, styles him a
"porent, miracle OF nature, a gigantic genius,
served by an unparalleled physique" lie revels IN
work. His enthusiastic ioy IN ART supplies the want
IN men nn @ 4h % H. npUc to wOrx
and nights together, with scarcely an interval of
rest, and when the work is inishe WI emerge
from his studio with not trace of WEAKNESS on his
Ow, fresh affable and gay, his presence always
so oited and always we come.
D0re hves In Paris. He IS unmarried and his
mother keeps house TOR him in quiet modest apart
menis fitted Up with true arts,Ic taste. Ills studio
is said to be perfect museum oil costumes specimens
of armor, weapons and other objects Of art1st neces
stY or pleasure. Every Sunday he 1eceye. his friends
at an entertainment, from wnicl all ladies, except
his mother, who pres1des are rigid excluded The
01ly reason L have heat for this ungallant treat
ment OF the sex among whom the artist nads his his
bachelor, ana does not wish TO have MS peace Of
mind disturbed
Like Turner Dore is accused of being mere nary
and OF making art business instead of profession
lie is certainly sharp a bargain and exacts high
good work, and no publisher ever loses by him.
The disadvantage OF a popularity like Dore's is
that II stands IN the wav OF true estimate OF his
genus He almost sure TO be either oyerrated or
moderated Dore as not escaped this fate Dlz.
zled by his versatility, h brill ancy, and his orr
g1nality in certain walks OF his art, one class of
crit cs whose only forte s adm ration, have already
raised him TO the highest rank among creative
geniuses, and claim for hlm seat by The size OF
Michael Angelo, Raphael, Shakespear Dante and
Homer, as an acknowledged master in the world OF
On the o'her band q class o critics whose only
art is to praise he dead at the expense OF h5 living
pronounce HIM chariatan aud trlckster IN art,
with no more claim TO permanent place among
the great masters than a sensation novel writer has
TO rank with 81 akespeare 1t Is perhaps, true that
the popu'ar juu gment IS more often wrong than
right in mat oil art, and that the popular poet
artist oil to day is seldom the poet or artist Tor "all
hme' But in the case of Dore, poDu ar judgment
happens 10 coincide with very critical opinion. Tho
judgment of rheophl GautIer already quoted, is
but an echo the praises showered upon Dore IN
the most cultivated and iastldious art.circles OF
Paus. is doubtless extTavagant, DuS 'eyeftheless
il is nealer the truth than the judgment of his de-
tractors
been mislnterpretcd d rs indi at NC want OF pro.
fundIty. This is certainly enoneous The men
whose genius has shed most lus upon AIT have
ways been rapid workers 1t not to his disc edit
that DOre never laboTs over his cravings HIS mo t
elat orate mpostIOns are thrown OFF with marvel
lous rapidItl not slowly put together by rule but
| conceived at once the menta picture being trans.
fer ed to the pages with the emckness OF thought
a d tie fidelity OF the photograph 1t IS said that he
never alters line once drawn. HIS work we'll
done at first and TO alter line would be TO mar IT.
| his ant he would be unab to execute the enormous
! tasks that have given him his popularity.
An ana ysis OF ali the great works with which Dore
/ has assoc ated his name would transcend the our
po of this article, which is only to p ace American
readers in possession OF such facts as wi enable
! as an arnst He has tried many styles, and mas
ta ed in none, whie in 'ome his success
genius is without para lei IN mo fern tpes. The
wandering jew the 'Conte. dc Perrault' Don
toUes'" Baron Munchausen," Dante's "Inferno ;
ana The Bible, have been Illustrated b{ hlm With
such even excellence that critics re unable to decide
which work ex Iblts the greate,t amount of talent
All have to be taken INTO account in forming an es-
innate OF his genius. That he creates the gro
tesque and horrible is probably true. Some of his
illustrations 10 the Eible and to the FAIRY Tales,
and occasional pahos that form q, wonderful. con-
hast TO some OF his Cesig for inc wandering
and the constant occurrence Of Illustrations that
make the blood run cold with horror, or
excite uns, mpalhetic laughter or command mere
admiI ion at the amount of power developed,
sho the ruling tendency of his genius. de delights
in horrors. uante's He'll has more attraction for
seems to move his pity. Even the sad story
of "Paolo and Francesca" fails to awaken in MN
any tenderness: he depicts the unhappy lovers
sweeping by Dante and his guide on the current OF
hot and blasting wind with none of that deep pity
that made the poet turn away and fall 10 the ground
like corse To appreciate the utter heartlessness
of The pcture one has only to compare 1t with AIRY
Schefer's treatme mt of the subject. Ihe same
absence OF sympathy and pathos obser able IN the
ilustra ions 10 Don QuIXote" Inc grotesqueY
comic arts such as the battle with the windmill the
toslnP of Sancho in the anket the battle with the
WINE skins and others, are conceived and wrought
Out with truly wonderful po yer. But Dore never
allows US to pity the unfortunate though chlvalrc
Don. Our laughter never becomes respectful Oh
sympathetic. Were the work of Cervantes lost, and
tho Illustrations only preserved, they would give a
very incomplete idea of the character OF Don
QuiXote ana hls Squire.
o Dore's deficient perception OF pure beauty leads
HIM into perpetual dal lance with the strange, the
gro esque and the revolving His drawings rarely
seem to be inspired bN love- His humor IS grim and
unsy mpathetlc Nothing can be more striking than
his LANDSCAPES, Gnd nothing more unnatural He
takes delight in gloom, in yastness IN powerful
csntInsts of light and shade. In t1e 'W Wandering
jew" IN the "InfcTno" and III "Do Quixote." we
may find many evidences of his power in portray
ing the gloom OF desert valleys, the horror
OF dark haunted by ginaDe shapes, the
weariness and desolatlon of NAKED mountain peaks
while only here and there do we find breathing
space in the sweet peace and pure sunshine OF some
pastola scene, with pleasant grove on one side,
sparkling brook, gentle hills in the distance, and
I meadows fitted for fairy dance de IS o1fen wrong
IN pei spective, and his gure-drawing IS generally
hasy, sketchy, snd not lnrequentlY lncorrect-o
which deflclenc 5, however, his ater drawings show
fewer eXamUe than are TO be found in the Wan
deling jew" and her OF his earlier works
DQTe is SAID 10 have no eye Tor color Inc same
was SAID of Turner IN his YOU h; and Dore may ye
acqui that mastery color which IN after lie
us'Inguished the great Engl sh artist. But he pos
sesses rarer gtt-the power OF expressing yas
degrees of space with Dack and white. and OF pro
duclnP, with th Sc simple material, the impression
OF color. lie is ambitious OF becoming Great color
ist but the only specimens oil his art scounlY
The Mounebanks," /, though 10 give little prom sc
of future excel ence in this respect.
DCre's lie has be that Of an industrious artist
and possesses no materials for romance. HIS eaIiJ
desire to devote mselt to art was not opposed bJ
ms parents. At the OF twelye ne lett has native
city of StTa bOufg lor Paris, where he worked for q
tune on comic paper the journal pour HFe lie
first obtained recoPniuon an artist OF moro tnaI
Ordinary merit oy his illustrations to the wander
! ing Jew" From that time hls progress was RAPID
each succeeding work was received with lncreas us
favor by the public; and when his latest, ana, II
some respects his greatest work was PuOnsSnea M th'
enthusiasm OF his admirers was litera ly unbounded
Every body IN France turned Bible reader, IN orde
to understand the great artist It's sa,1, l 40 no no