All Resolutions
Artist
- Name:
- Doré, Gustave
- Dates:
- 1832-1883
- Country:
- France
Illustration
- Subject:
- Narratives
- Technique:
- Wood engraving
- Engraver:
- Lavieille, Jacques Adrien
- Format:
- Portrait (taller)
- Source:
- Old Book Illustrations
Book
- Title:
- Les contes drolatiques (Doré)
- Author(s):
- Balzac, Honoré de
- Publisher:
- Paris: Garnier Frères, 1881
- Open Library:
- View record.
Description
Profile view of a woman wearing a hennin and followed by a suitor. She’s walking with a little page bearing her long train while the suitor is stepping over it. He has long white hair and a beard and looks much older than she does. Although of a seemingly average height, he is also shorter than she as illustrated by her tall shadow sharply silhouetted against the wall behind them.
This picture is an illustration for the story called “The False Courtesan,” from Droll Stories. The lady is the character named Lady of Hocquetonville and the suitor is the duc d’Orleans.
The caption reads in the original French: La preude et chaste femme, dame d’Hocquetonville.
The translation provided here is from the edition published in London by the Bibliophilist Society, 1874.
Keywords: 1880s, 19th century, black & white, Contes drolatiques, courtship, False courtesan, hat, medieval
