La Grande Bible de Tours
La Grande Bible de Tours
by Aaron Aurières
| Title |
La Sainte Bible selon la Vulgate. Traduction nouvelle avec les dessins de Gustave Doré. Colloquially known as La Grande Bible de Tours. |
| Printer | Alfred Mame & Fils |
| Date | 1866 |
| Printing Location | Tours, France |
| Contributors |
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| Language | French | Examples accessible |
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About this Bible…
In 1866, Alfred Mame et Fils published La Sainte Bible selon la Vulgate. Traduction nouvelle avec les dessins de Gustave Doré, an edition that would become colloquially known as the Grande Bible de Tours, both for its size (large folio, 43 x 32 cm), and exceptional contents. Indeed, this edition (and its later reprinting by Mame) represents a departure from the traditional model of Christian Bibles in the second half of the 19th century in France. In those two volumes, both text and visual imagery are significantly dissimilar to most editions of the time.
The Text
Bibles in French in the 19th century often used the translation by Lemaistre de Sacy, a translation that dated from the 17th century. The editor, when the project of publishing this bible was first conceived, chose to forgo that translation and instead turned to two French liturgists from Tours, who had originally been published in 1843: Pierre Janvier and Jean-Jacques Bourassé.1 Both translations were by catholics and were based on the Vulgate, thus carrying less chances of bearing remarkable dissimilitudes, but it is unmistakable that the translations are not the same. One example amongst many is the nineteenth line of the 13th chapter of Isaiah:
Bible de Sacy2
Cette grande Babylone, cette reine entre les royaumes du monde, qui avait porté dans un si grand éclat l’orgueil des Chaldéens, sera détruite, comme le Seigneur renversa Sodome et Gomorrhe.
[This great Babylon, this queen amongst the kingdoms of the world, which had bore in such a great shine the pride of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed, just as the Lord brought down Sodom and Gomorrah.]*
Grande Bible de Tours
Cette superbe Babylone, la gloire des royaumes, l’orgueil des Chaldéens, sera détruite, comme le Seigneur renversa Sodome et Gomorrhe.
[This superb Babylon, glory of the kingdoms, pride of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed, just as the Lord brought down Sodom and Gomorrah.]*
While the overall meaning of the text is not changed, the stylistic choices of the translations are different and this departure in text is an interesting choice for the editor, who seems to have wanted a clear departure from previous editions in this publication.
The Illustrations
Giacomelli’s in-text illustrations
In this edition, the text is accompanied by delicate embellishments made by Hector Giacomelli, with a repetition of the embellishments throughout the two volumes. Hamerton, in his second review of this Bible, notes that the “same design [of textual ornamentation] is made to serve over and over again, so that in the Old Testament we have no fewer than thirty-eight copies of the same set of ornaments,” an argument he uses to assess that this lessens the visual value of the edition.3 In a book as expansive as the Bible is, across two volumes, those repetitions are quite natural: it is also quite important to mention that the various ornaments have a strong Biblical imagery and are not unrelated to the nature of the text. A few elements are recurrent throughout many of these: the snake; the lyre, wings, and gates, symbols traditionally associated with angels and Heaven to this day; as well as floral motifs that evoke the Middle East rather than Western Europe. Giacomelli’s work on those designs is inscribed within the text and enhances the visual experience of those volumes.
Doré’s work as illustrator
The main draw of this edition is, however, the illustrations by Gustave Doré. In the first edition, we count 228 engravings, all hors-texte, but the second edition, while having the same text, contains 230. It is not purely an addition from Doré. The illustrator was not satisfied by his own illustrations and removed 13 illustrations from the first edition, added 15 new ones, and retouched or redid 22 illustrations.4 Overall, Ceruti establishes that Doré created 312 illustrations for this project, some that did not make it to either of the Mame editions of the Bible. As a scholar rather than critic, Schaeffer present the Bible as an inherent part of Doré’s work as an illustrator of the literary canon, stating that the Bible “remained a crucial source within the artistic and broader cultural institutions of his time” as well as being “recognized as a monument in the western literary tradition beyond its theological or ritualistic importance”.5
Hamerton, despite his claims of having “a very great respect for Gustave Doré, and believ[ing] him to be a designer of singular genius” decries his illustrations of the Bible in a rather negative way, stating that “Doré’s artistic policy seems to be to dazzle a wide public rather than to satisfy a select one” and that this Bible is of “far inferior value” to both Doré’s previous work and other editions of the Bible. As a contemporary of Doré, Hamerton’s gives us a view of how varied the reception of Doré’s work in the 19th century could be: the illustrator was well employed and did not lack work, was widely appreciated by the general public, but encountered harsh criticism from critics. The imagery that Doré presented in these biblical scenes had a “veneer of realism” for the general public of the 19th century, inspired and drawing on the current of orientalism that spread through Europe and North America at the time.6
As a 21st century audience, we must reckon with the strength of this biblical imagery that lasts to this day. Schaeffer assesses that his depiction of biblical scenes represents “a watershed moment in the history of biblical imagery”.7
Short Analysis of an Illustration
Engraved by Adolphe Gusmand (alternatively spelled Gusman), this illustration of the Isaiah’s vision of the destruction of Babylon is of a scene that is not often represented in traditional biblical imagery. As Schaeffer points out, Doré’s illustrations “visualized the breadth of the Bible with a level of variety” unseen before from a single artist.8 Quoted by Marshall, Richardson expresses that Doré, in choosing to illustrate the Bible, was given to play with an “almost endless series of intensely dramatic events,” and cite this illustration as one of those dramatic events that Doré played with.9
The figure of Isaiah, in the upmost left third of the illustration, is one that appears to stumble in horror, with an outstretched hand and his clothing flying backwards, this dynamism quite characteristic of the illustrator. Despite the desolation, seen through rubbles, shattered columns, and the landscape empty of any human life save Isaiah himself, this illustration still holds the sight through a dynamic point of view. Following Isaiah’s hand, a flock of birds takes flight, seemingly fleeing the prophet, in the direction of a somewhat intact architectural element. In the background, parts of the city of Babylon are still intact, shining underneath what can be imagined to be a cloudy sky. The architecture of those buildings is directly inspired by the 19th century concept of the Antiquity, with the re-discovery of the site of Pompeii in the previous century. The destruction is only in the direct surroundings of Isaiah, highlighting the prophecy being shown only through the eyes of this single man. The play between the darkness in which Isaiah is surrounded and the light that shines over Babylon, described as “beautiful” and “the glory of the kingdoms”, balances the prophecy as well, in which God tells Isaiah that there will no longer be light shining on Babylon once He has punished the city and its inhabitants.10 In this moment, the viewer sees Babylon as it is as Isaiah hears the prophecy, while also viewing Isaiah shrouded in the darkness predicted. Even the emptiness and lack of humanity around Isaiah accompanies the text, as Isaiah prophesizes that God will render Babylon inhabitable to humans.11
In this illustration, Doré plays with the contrast with the resplendent Babylon and the destruction that is coming to it, embodied by Isaiah and his surroundings.
Short Conclusion
With a first edition sold at 200 francs with 3 200 copies made, the Holy Bible of Tours illustrated by Gustave Doré quickly went out of print and came back a few years afterwards.12 Doré’s illustrations continue, to this day, to impact our imagination and the visuals that we encounter in works of fiction as well as non fiction. While Schaeffer mentions that his work has been used in countless scholarly publications, the Musée d’Orsay, in the commentary for its exhibition in 2014, states that many films (as early as Méliès’ 1902 A Trip to the Moon) have taken inspiration from his illustrations, even blockbusters such as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. In regard to the Bible, the museum indicates that “almost every film about the Bible […] refers to his illustrations.”13
Gustave Doré’s work reaches out to the audience even to this day, over a century and a half since his death.
Footnotes
- * : Translation my own.
- Ceruti, Serge ,« Gustave Doré and the Bible », Utpictura18, Rubriques. DOI: 10.58048/2968-9198/20975
- Bible Traduite par Lemaistre de Sacy. Accessed on Wikisource.
- Hamerton, Philip Gilbert, « Review of Gustave Doré’s Bible », The Fortnightly Review, 1866. Accessed on Art and Popular Culture
- Ceruti.
- Schaefer, S, « The Biblical Scale of Gustave Doré. » The Ancient Near East Today. Accessed on anetoday.org
- Schaefer.
- Schaefer.
- Schaefer.
- Marshall, Colin, « Behold Gustave Doré’s Dramatic Illustrations of the Bible (1866) », 2024. Accessed on Open Culture
- Isaiah, 13:12: “L’homme sera plus rare que l’or, plus précieux que l’or le plus pur.” English translation (NIV): “I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.” & Isaiah, 13:20: “Elle ne sera plus jamais habitée, et elle ne se rebâtira point dans la suite des siècles.” English version (NIV): “She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations.”
- Ceruti.
- Musée d’Orsay, « Gustave Doré (1832–1883): Master of Imagination ». Accessed on the website of the Musée d’Orsay
Sources for the Images
All illustrations within this page are part of the Public Domain and were sourced from WikiCommons. Images from the text were sourced from the Gallica page which displays this Bible.
