PRINCE APPROACHING THE PALACE OF SLEEP 1885 Gustave Doré ANTIQUE ENGRAVING

Original 9 5/8 inch x 7 5/8 inch Engraving titled THE PRINCE APPROACHING THE PALACE OF SLEEP.

”The gallant young Prince, who destroys the somnolent enchantment overhanging the palace of the Sleeping Beauty, now approaches one of the entrances where a party returned from hunting is found fixed in various attitudes of sudden drowsiness. The picture is steeped in a strange, fairy-like charm. The very spirit of mysterious repose breathes over it: the hot sunshine dozes on the Gothic pinnacles and great windows of the beautiful old building, and the luxuriant creepers are heavy with the quiet of a hundred years.”

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 Adolphe François Pannemaker (1822 - 1900). Wood engraver. Graduate of Ecole Royale in Brussels. He went to Paris and worked there for more than 30 years, especially as book illustrator, often working with his son and pupil, Stéphane Pannemaker (1847-1930), especially on reproductions of Gustave Doré's book illlustrations.

Illustration from “Fairy Realm: a Collection of the Favourite Old Tales Told in Verse” published in 1865.

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.