109 - DORÉ, Gustave. Copperplate engraving of Rabelais’s *Gargantua*. [circa 1873].

DORÉ, Gustave. Copperplate engraving of Rabelais’s *Gargantua*. [circa 1873]. Copper plate signed “G. Doré” at the bottom, mounted on a piece of wood (210 x 250 mm) protected on the back by a partially torn cardboard sheet onto which an engraving of “L’arcade Saint-Jean” by Dieudonné Lancelot has been pasted. Small chip in the upper right corner of the copper plate; minute traces of oxidation at the bottom. An impressive copper plate used by Gustave Doré to illustrate the works of Rabelais. In this lively scene, the giant can be glimpsed in the center, reclining in the grass and wearing a plumed cap. In a nonchalant pose, he holds a young woman close to him. The foreground is filled with various figures in Renaissance clothing or armor, while a fortified medieval town looms over the scene. A rare copperplate signed by one of France’s greatest illustrators.