Gustave Doré was a French artist, engraver, illustrator, and sculptor. He primarily worked as a literary illustrator, and is famous for his work with an 1866 Bible, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”.In 1873, Doré painted Christ Leaving the Praetorium as an oil painting. The painting is said to be the result of a conversation between Doré and the Rev. Frederick Harford, who was the minor canon of Westminster at the time. Questioned whether the moment before Christ was hung on the cross had ever been painted, Doré immediately desire to paint such a scene. The result contrasts Christ and Mary with the mob with color (brilliantly white vs. dark), light (brightly illuminated vs. in shadow), and attitude (still vs. chaotic).
