Gargantua and Pantagruel 

This is Gustave Doré’s illustration of Gargantua and Pantagruel. Doré, working in 19th century France, made his mark illustrating the grotesque and satirical novels of François Rabelais, written centuries earlier during the French Renaissance. Doré’s images are more than just illustrations. They invite us to consider the role of satire and exaggeration in shaping cultural identity. They use hyperbole to question social norms and political power. Here, the imposing figures of Gargantua’s army, dwarfing the landscape, are rendered with painstaking detail. This draws us into a world where the body is both a site of great power and of great vulnerability. In the context of 19th century France, Doré’s art speaks to the complex relationship between tradition and modernity. Doré’s illustrations are not simply a window into the past, they reflect the present. Through his engagement with Rabelais, Doré challenges us to question the values and assumptions of his own time, and perhaps our own.