The Judgment of Solomon
The Judgment of Solomon (1Kings 3_16-28) c1866 by French Painter Gustave Doré (1832 – 1883); though he primarily worked as a wood engraver, he also was a printmaker, caricaturost, comics artist, illustrator and a sculptor.
The Judgment of Solomon is an engraving that depicts the Biblical tale of King Solomon and the two mothers each claiming to be and fighting over an infant son; with both claiming to be the mother of the baby.
In order to solve this dilemma the women and the baby are brought before King Solomon to each plead their case; and to resolve this life altering dispute, King Solomon orders his soldier to cut the baby in half, and give each women a half of the baby.
Upon hearing this the true mother of the child tells the King that the other women can have the child and please not kill; and then Solomon orders the soldier to give the baby to the woman that is willing to give up the child to save its life, as this is the true mother of the baby.
The Judgment of Solomon scene shows the throne room with the members of the court and others along its perimeter and King Solomon standing in front of his throne dealing out the justice of his wisdom.
There at the front of the throne is a soldier holding the baby up in his left hand, and a sword in his right; while the true mother of the child is on her knees begging for the child’s life and the other woman just stands there looking down at her
The Judgment of Solomon is a remastered digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image that is available as a mihise inprimatu sarean.
Informazioa Behean Deribatua Wikipedia.org
Doré was born in Strasbourg, France and by the age of 5 was a child prodigy artist; creating drawings that were mature beyond his years. Then at the age of 12, he began carving in stone, eta by 15, began his career working as a caricaturist for the French paper Le journal pour rire.
In the beginning wood engraving was his primary method of artistic expression during the late 1840s and early 1850s, making several text comics, like Les Travaux d’Hercule (1847), Trois artistes incompris et mécontents (1851), Les Dés-agréments d’un voyage d’agrément (1851) and L’Histoire de la Sainte Russie (1854).
Gero, Cervantesen liburuetako eszenak irudikatzeko enkarguak irabazi zituen Dorék, Rabelais, Balzac, Milton, eta Dante. Ilustrazioak ere egin zituen “Gargantua eta Pantagruel” urtean 1854; besterik ez zenean 22 urteak.
In 1853 Doreri Lord Byronen lanak ilustratzeko eskatu zioten; eta enkargu horrek argitaletxe britainiarrentzat lan osagarria ekarri zuen, Biblia ilustratu berri bat barne, eta hiru urte geroago ekoiztuko zuen 12 The Legend of The Wandering Juduaren folio tamainako ilustrazioak, garai hartako aspaldiko ikuspegi antisemitak hedatzen zituena, Pierre-Jean de Bérangerrek Eugène Sueren eleberri batetik ateratako poema labur batengatik 1845.
1860ko hamarkadan Dorék Cervantesen Kixoteren frantsesezko edizio bat ilustratu zuen, eta bere zaldunaren eta bere ezkutariaren irudikapenak, Antso Panza, hain famatu egin dira non ondorengo irakurleengan eragina izan dutela, artistak, eta eszena eta zinema zuzendariak’ fisikoaren ideiak “begiratu” bi pertsonaien artean.
Edgar Allan Poeren tamaina handiko edizio bat ere ilustratu zuen “Belea”, irabazi zion ahalegina 30,000 Harper argitaletxearen frankoak & Anaiak sartu 1883.
Bere ilustrazioak Bibliarako (1866) arrakasta handia izan zuten, eta barruan 1867 Dorek bere lanen erakusketa garrantzitsu bat egin zuen Londresen, horrek Bond kaleko Doré galeria sortu zuen, Londres. In 1869, Blanchard Jerrold, Douglas William Jerrolden semea, elkarrekin lan egitea proposatu zuen Londresen erretratu integral bat egiteko.
Jerroldek Rudolph Ackermannek ekoiztutako The Microcosm of London-etik lortu zuen ideia, William Pyne, eta Thomas Rowlandson (-tik hiru liburukitan argitaratua 1808 to 1810). Dorék bost urteko kontratua sinatu zuen Grant argitaletxearekin & Co that involved his staying in London for three months a year, and he received the vast sum of £10,000 a year for the project.
Though Doré was mainly celebrated for his paintings during his time, and though they remain world-renowned even till this day, it is his woodcuts and engravings, like those he did for Jerrold, that demonstrated is exceptional artistic talent as an artist with an individual vision.