happy birthday Mr. Doré

Today is the birthday of French book illustrator Gustave Doré. He was born in Strasbourg, France, in 1832. Doré's drawings were noticed by the time he was five. He never took art lessons, but by the age of 15 he had published his first illustrated story. At 16 he moved to Paris and became the highest paid illustrator in France. Most of his drawings are wood engravings or steel engravings.

He was given the job of illustrating an English version of the Bible which was published in 1866. The hundreds of Bible illustrations he drew were used in Bibles of every language in the 19th century.



Because his work is now in the public domain, you will find many of his drawings bringing to life the stories in my kids' devotional Bible Drive-Thru.

Mr. Doré died in January 23, 1883. He was only 51.