PEACOCK COMPLAINING TO JUNO 1885 Gustave Doré - La Fontaine ANTIQUE ENGRAVING

Original 9 1/2 inch x 7 1/2 inch Engraving THE PEACOCK COMPLAINING TO JUNO.

The plate represents a beautiful Watteau-like scene in the gardens of a richly-wooded old chateau, with a most prodigious peacock dropping his long train from the balustrade of a terrace.”

Illustration by Gustave Doré (1832 - 1883). The most popular and successful French book illustrator of the middle of the 19th century. Doré became widely known for his illustrations to such books as Danté’s Inferno (1861), Don Quixote (1862), and the Bible (1866), and he helped to give European currency to the illustrated book of large format. He was so prolific that at one time he employed more than forty wood engravers. His work is characterized by an eclectic mix of Michelangelesque nudes, northern traditions of sublime landscape, and a highly spirited love of the grotesque and bizarre.

Engraved by Charles Laplante (1837 - 1903).

Jean de La Fontaine (1621 – 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional languages.
After a long period of royal suspicion, he was admitted to the French Academy and his reputation in France has never faded since. Evidence of this is found in the many pictures and statues of the writer, as well as later depictions on medals, coins and postage stamps.

Illustration for Jean de La Fontaine’s “Fables” published between 1668 to 1694 and illustrated by Doré in 1885.

This edition from Cassell’s ‘Doré Gallery’ published in 1885.

Page size 12 1/4 inch x 9 1/8 inch

The engraving is in very good condition. Reverse side blank.