Prints and Authors in the Time of Manet

The Neophyte (Le Néophyte)

Etching on chine collé, 1880
Gift of Oliver Chamberlain, 1984.96

Gustave Doré was perhaps the most prolific French illustrator of the 19th century, creating prints for 221 books. However, he proclaimed his interest in pursuing “all the models of expression that art has pressed in the service of the idea, drawing, engraving, etching, watercolor, oil painting and sculpture.” This etching of a young monk is based on a painting Doré executed in the 1860s. He reputedly completed 50,000 designs by the time he was 32, and continued that remarkable level of production until his death in 1883.