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Title Page
Epigraph
Introduction
Matthew
The Wise Men Guided by the Star
The Flight into Egypt
The Sermon on the Mount
The Daughter of Herodius Receiving the Head of John the Baptist
Christ Feeds the Multitude
Jesus Healing the Lunatic
Jesus Healing the Sick
Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
Christ and the Tribute Money
Jesus Praying in the Garden
The Crown of Thorns
Christ Mocked
The Death of Christ
The Angel at the Door of the Sepulchre
Mark
John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness
Jesus and His Disciples in the Cornfield
Jesus Stilling the Tempest
Jesus Blessing the Children
The Widow's Mite
The Judas Kiss
Jesus Falling beneath the Cross
The Descent from the Cross
The Transfiguration
Luke
The Annunciation
The Nativity
Jesus with the Doctors
The Temptation of Jesus
Jesus Raising up the Daughter of Jairus
Arrival of the Good Samaritan at the Inn
Jesus at the House of Martha and Mary
Jesus Preaching to the Multitude
Verses
The Prodigal Son in the Arms of his Father
The Buyers and Sellers Driven Out of the Temple
The Last Supper
Christ in the Garden
The Arrival at Calvary
The Erection of the Cross
The Darkness at the Crucifixion
Jesus and the Disciples Going to Emmaus
The Ascension
John
The Baptism of Jesus
The Marriage in Cana
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria
Jesus Walking on the Sea
The Woman Taken in Adultery
Resurrection of Lazarus
Peter Denying Christ
Christ Presented to the People
Nailing Christ to the Cross
The Dead Christ
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes
Thy Kingdom Come
Descent of the Holy Spirit
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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
— John 1:1
Following the great break with the Church of Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries in England, and with the rise of Protestantism across Europe, the old method of illuminating Bibles — using armies of unpaid monks to produce one page at a time with quill and brush — was no longer sufficient. The ability of the monasteries to do the work was diminished and the demand for Bibles in the English language was greatly increased.
Introduced in the 1430s, Gutenberg’s press — with its durable, moveable metal type — enabled the mass dissemination of the written word, but it was not until the invention of equally durable etched metal plates that illustrations could join the written word in creating detailed pictures in large numbers of human minds.
Working with such plates, Paul Gustave Doré and his artist-craftsmen created a publishing revolution by producing works that emulated fine-art painting and that were reproducible in the thousands by the print shop. They laboured in silent concentration for long hours, as reverent about their art and craft as their monastic predecessors — and often as anonymous.
A century-and-a-half later, we were leafing through an old Doré Bible in two volumes, admiring the first-generation printed illustrations but doing so more out of appreciation for the craft mastery they embodied than for the verve of the artists or the emotional resonance they evoked. Then we were inspired to grab a loupe. What bloomed in front of our eyes under magnification was some of the most astonishingly detailed and passionate work we had ever seen; thousands of fine lines coalescing into shape and shadow, and conveying a sense of tremendous energy and emotion.
In the heyday of the craft, master engravers were celebrated for making their hard work invisible, just as a printer today would make invisible the tiny dots that comprise a four-color print. At first glance, the printed engravings appear to be entirely free from the thousands of needle-fine grooves incised in metal required by the medium to transfer ink to the page, though with the advent of modern scanners capable of enlarging images by many times, seeing the architecture of this medium for the first time is revelatory.
Like a film editor, we have attempted to showcase the emotional core of each work, as well as to present an additional gallery of images showing life on the periphery of great events. Each face is revealed to be a mirror, teaching us that people laughed and wept, mocked and trembled, felt love and awe and pain and sorrow, and that these faces, engraved by men centuries ago and portraying humans millennia ago, are not that distant from our own emotions in our own time.