Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Council Held by Rats

We know he's a master of biblical crowd scenes—but from a fable of La Fontaine, Doré shows his mastery of rodent crowd scenes as well.

Gustave Doré — The Council Held by Rats — 1867

2 comments:

LJR said...

I love this image. It depicts the rats in an anthropomorphic situation, yet retains their essential rodent qualities of appearance and attitude. The end effect is really creepy.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Good perception of the effect, LJR.

Plus, isn't the composition brilliant? —the leader silhouetted in the shaft of light, with the cat's bell dangling just so.