The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-02-01
GUsTAvR DORE.
,.r,Onal Charaot> Aastics Of the Great Co

,...o,al Charaot\ astics Of the Great Co
nius.
Gustaye Dore is nearly so years of age
md looks about s.. OF medium stature,
hs has the frame q an acrobat and the
head of a poet To see him in the street
can would feel inclined to give him a
fanny. for he is the worst-dressed man in
Paris, the scapegoat Of the tailor, who in
a;,ts mon him all his misfits. Dore passes
bs life in drawing and painting, sleeping
o,dancing about with fiddle in his hand
In society, when he is not mapping or fid-
aipg. he is constantly making sketches
HI, fertility is prodigious, and on that ac-
,ount his brother artists do not look upon
him with a favorable eye. A statistician
hascalculated that Dore's picturesan draw
ings, if laid hat side by side, would suffice
IA cover the railway track from Paris to
Lyons He attaches no importance to his
vorg and although in business transactions
man of singular acuteness in private life
beis the most giving" of artists. When
bs was in Switzerland few years ago he
used to give his water colors away right
and left to his neighbors at the table d'hote.
AZ dinner at Madame KS the other day an
English lady begged Dore to write his
name on slip of paper, so that she might
possess his illuStrious autograph.
"0h Madame, will give you something
better than mere signature"
And suiting the action to the word, he
took off his black necktie, asked for a bit of
fake powder, mixed it with water, and,
with match, he painted on the necltie Il
CAV procession of cupids offering necktie
toa lady, signed it "Gustaye Dore," and
handed it calamity to his fair admirer.
Gustave Dore's talent is unrivaled. He
ispainter, engraver, designer, sculptor and
water-cOlor painter In painting he does
nearly everything with the brush, and fixes
disposition of the figures with the barest
possible indications Of charcoal His ocular
memory is astonishing. In his studio he
has no documents, no sketches, no
models. Recently lie made replica
Of his great picture of Christ leaving
the PrWtorium, entirely from mem
Ory When lie was doing his great
book on London and visiting all of the dens
Of Whitechapel and Mapping, he never
made sketches on the spot, but only at night
when he returned to his hotel. Unlike
most of the artists of the day, Gustave Dore
NuS llb ldSNS lul DllI-u-DI StS anu DlDGlOto
His studio, formerly a riding-school, is q
scene of indescribable disorder, full OF i'm
mense scafloldings, huge canyases, immense
palettes, such as Hercules might have used
had he taken to painting, colors and
brushes all pell NELL, piles of drawings
statues moulding-clay, etchings, engrav-
ings, wood-cuts, and in the midst piano
and on the piano a Stradivarus. When
ever he does venture to buy bibelotS he
chooses the most abominable rubbish, fol
Instance, bohemian glass of the most mod
ern manufacture.
Lately Dore has had craze for sculp
ture, and all the great bronze foundries are
anxious to buy his models. The colossal
vase, the Epopee of Bacchus, which was eX
hbited at the universal exhibition of 1878
is now being cast at the artists own eX
pense.
For the past seven years Dore has beer
working at the illustrations of Shakes
peare, which he is anxious to make hi:
masterpiece of illustration. Thanks to his
knowledge of German-he was born al
Strasburg-he has been able to get very
near to Shakespeare, and to comprehend
him Us few Frenchmen have done. TC
give an idea of the care he is taking owe
the work he says he has spent over $50, 0N
in ESSAYS and plates, which he has for tn,
most part rejected as unsatisfactory. Ar
American and an English publisher ar,
rivals for the possession of this work, which
will not be published for year or two t.
come
No FrenchmaH has been decorated will
more foreign orders of chivalry, but h,
never wears any decoration except tn,
Legion of Honor, and no triumph abroad
however great, gives him the same Joy a;
the smallest success won ut Paris.-IBostor
Courier.