Artwork Page for Liberty

Details / Information for Liberty

Liberty

c. 1865–75

Gustave Doré

(French, 1832–1883)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
Brush and brown wash and gray and white gouache with graphite
Support
Beige wove paper
Measurements
Sheet: 46.5 x 32.9 cm (18 5/16 x 12 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.383
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Gustave Doré is best known for his skill as a draftsman (often seen in book illustrations), as well as for his sense of the fantastic and visionary. In the present drawing, his fluid washes and flowing lines of white add to the dramatic scene of a liberating angel breaking chains. The drawing relates to Doré's Defense of Paris (Memories of 1870), which treated an event from the recent Franco-Prussian War with a figure representing Liberty. A major difference between the painting and the drawing is that Doré represented soldiers in contemporary uniforms in the painting, but in the drawing of Liberty, he conceived a broader theme in which crowns and medieval costumes evoke an earlier time.
A vertically oriented brown wash and white gouache drawing depicts Liberty, a woman with a light skin tone, standing centrally with raised arms holding broken chains. She wears a long robe and stands upon defeated figures before a massive, barred archway. Below, a discarded crown lies amidst a crowd reaching upward. Brilliant white highlights illuminate Liberty and the surrounding forms against the deep brown background.

Liberty

c. 1865–75

Gustave Doré

(French, 1832–1883)
France, 19th century

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