Plate no. 26 Book VI line 406 'Now Night her Course began..' 1882

Curator: Good afternoon. We're looking at Gustave Doré's engraving, "Plate no. 26 Book VI line 406 'Now Night her Course began..'," created in 1882. What are your initial impressions? Editor: Brooding, definitely brooding. That winged figure draped across the craggy landscape… it feels both powerful and desolate. All that chiaroscuro is intensely romantic, isn't it? Curator: It's interesting you say romantic, given its association with Milton’s Paradise Lost. Doré, throughout his career, consistently returned to subjects steeped in darkness and dramatic biblical scenes. In terms of visual storytelling, I believe this artwork utilizes line, shading and photography skills to show his desired perspective of the Romanticism. Editor: True, there's the narrative, of course. But Doré's visual language, the sweeping vistas and that lone figure…he evokes that romantic sublime—nature indifferent to the individual's plight. The symbolism of wings always fascinates me; here, they feel more burdensome than liberating. The fallen angel as a figure trapped by his own rebellion. Curator: I agree. Consider the landscape itself. Those jagged rocks and looming mountains, rendered so meticulously. The engraving medium adds to that sense of detail, almost claustrophobic in its intensity. Editor: The contrasts! Look at the sliver of light piercing through the clouds versus the deep shadows clinging to the crevices. Night coming on as a metaphor for encroaching despair, perhaps? It echoes ideas about cultural and religious symbolism about fallen and heaven through visual symbols that convey deep meanings. Curator: I think that's it entirely, what appears like light seeping in above also reveals light escaping downwards into the great dark crevasse that splits open right where the brooding devil lay. He appears heavy with worry and I'm sure the landscape has more to do with than simply 'romantic' but also acting out the mental state of the angel. It shows us the themes of religion, cultural symbolisms and psychological themes, something about how the artist interpreted how he and others lived their lives and perhaps his internal struggles. Editor: It is amazing how one image is able to give so much just through symbol and shading, right? To think it was crafted by a human hand using romantic styles as inspiration makes me believe, just as the figure lies on those great rocks, we stand upon history looking upon a land we understand so deeply yet we will forever be oblivious to much about our lives and others'.