Don Quixote, the Ingenious Madman

@1tm122n22m, Atma Unum

A deep analysis of Gustave Doré’s engraving of Don Quixote. Discover how the work reflects the mind of the hero and his deranged world. #Art #Literature #DonQuixote https://wp.me/p3JLEZ-8Kf

This text is authored by Ramón Menchaca García. It was the result of the Creative Consciousness workshop taught by Master Ra’al Ki Victorieux in Iconos, Mexico City.

Haz click aquí para leer la versión en español: El Quijote, el Ingenioso Loco

Analysis of an engraving by Gustave Doré, which illustrates the first chapter of the French edition of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra from 1863 titled Don Quixote. This engraving summarizes in many ways the complete work in the purest style of the era and with Doré’s mastery. With a single image, he introduces us to the deranged world of Alonso Quijano’s thoughts; Don Quixote of La Mancha.

What Don Alonso Reads

This analysis is based on the proposal of Rudolf Arnheim in his book Art and Visual Perception. Don Quixote is surrounded by an oval composition of books and characters of all kinds. Of varying proportions; from the enormous head of a giant, down in the lower left corner, to the small knights mounted on mice in the central lower part. The black and white graphic emphasizes the light coming in from the window on the left side, illuminating Don Quixote.

While it is a portrait of Don Alonso, we cannot overlook the characters around him. In some way, we know they are characters emerging from his mind, but in this case, they frame and center him. Though what is truly at the center is the space between his gaze and the book, we could say that “what he reads” is the center of the painting. Likewise, the empty spaces around his face and the book further frame the main character and his activity. “Isolation confers weight” (p. 39).

Don Quixote is the main figure as he is the largest “complete” character. On the other hand, we see that most gazes are directed at our protagonist, in addition to many directions of the actions of others. It seems they want to reach him but find it impossible. This causes the weight of the engraving to fall on him; although he is not the most luminous character, we perceive him as the heaviest.

The direction of light, along with the gaze of the giant’s head, which possesses the largest eyes, makes our gaze travel across the painting to the lower right corner where several characters point, not just with their gaze, directly at Don Quixote, exactly opposite the direction of the light. This giant head must have a relative greater weight than Don Quixote himself, yet our madman appears higher up, which confers him more weight. The same happens with the book thrown on the floor, which measures more than half the height of the woman.

The right side is much more populated with elements; however, the luminance of the left side adequately balances the painting. In case there was any doubt that the portrait is of Don Quixote; his figure is framed in the rectangle formed by the armchair where he is sitting; and “the regular shape of geometric figures makes them appear heavier.” (p. 39)

Inspiration of Books and Swords

A vertical-format engraving, with a customary scene of a seated portrait. At the center is Don Alonso Quijano, who in his left hand holds a book that he reads aloud while in his right hand he brandishes a sword in the air. We see the meticulous detail of the numerous figures that inhabit his imagination and surround him. Small beings that represent the adventures of such an illustrious knight. Adventures that will take him, through his imagination, to realize his dream. Doré, influenced by the prevailing style of the time, romanticism, found great inspiration in Don Quixote of La Mancha. Madness and the inhabitants of the mind become present.

Lady, Light, and Victory

Iconographically, the emaciated man, old, with a sad disguise of a knight-errant, half bald, with that mustache and beard, reading and tormented by the characters of his readings, is undoubtedly the great Don Quixote of La Mancha. By recognizing him, we give even more meaning to his figure. Doré also provides us with elements that reflect the being that he is: the heavy books of chivalry, the representations of the deranged battles, and everything that led Alonso Quijano to become Don Quixote.

The threatening dragons, the grotesque head of the giant, the malevolent ogres that subdue the adorable maidens stand out… but above all the image of the lovely Aldonza Lorenzo; the source of light, of all the courage and honor that resides in Don Quixote. It is she who provides the only light on the image and who later in the story will become Dulcinea del Toboso, chosen by Don Quixote to be the lady to whom he will dedicate his victories.

Doré

Born in Strasbourg in 1832, from a very young age he dedicated himself to illustration through engraving. His first important commission was the illustration of the works of Lord Byron in 1853. The next job was the illustration of the Bible (1865), which was a great success. This led to his first exhibition in 1867, which was highly successful, allowing him to charge record amounts for the time in his subsequent works. For example, shortly before he died in 1883, he charged 30,000 francs for illustrating a special edition of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. He passed away in 1883 in Paris.

Inventing Instead of Copying

Doré demonstrates mastery in technique, and not only that, he also has a profound understanding of the works he illustrates.

Although recognized for his technique, Doré’s creativity was not acknowledged in all areas. He was accused by the Art Journal of “inventing rather than copying.”

Regardless of the criticism, master Doré was an example and a starting point for illustration in his era, becoming a favorite for many publishing houses not only in France but in other countries as well. In England, he had a five-year contract with Grant & Co to illustrate London: A Pilgrimage, which contained 180 engravings and was published in 1872, which required him to move to London for three months each year, all for £10,000 a year.

Criticized for the savage description of the poverty of the city of London, he was recognized for his skill in engraving. Some of the archetypal images we have, for example, of Dante’s hell, were created by Doré. Thus, publishing with the most important publishing houses, influenced the art of illustration across Europe to this day.

Graphic Mastery

It is impossible not to recognize Gustave Doré’s mastery in engraving. The influence of his work in the world of illustration and in the collective unconscious is undeniable. Doré turned each of his works into a work of art. Today, we recognize many of these images as archetypal in our culture, perhaps even in the social unconscious. Like the representations of Dante’s hell. My father was a bibliophile, and Don Quixote was his favorite madman, so my first approaches to classic works are those illustrated by Doré.

References:

1. Rudolf Arnheim (July 15, 1904 — June 9, 2007, at the age of 102) was a psychologist and philosopher born in Berlin, Germany, in 1904. Influenced by Gestalt psychology and hermeneutics, he made significant contributions to the understanding of visual art and other aesthetic phenomena. He published books on the psychology of art, the perception of images, and the study of form. Probably his best-known book is Art and Visual Perception. Psychology of the Creative Eye. Madrid: Alianza. 1979 (original edition, 1954). One of his most original arguments, presented in the book “visual thinking,” is that modern man is permanently haunted by the world of language. Arnheim argues that there are other ways to apprehend the world based, for example, on sight. For Arnheim, there are certain qualities and feelings we capture in a work of art that cannot be expressed in words. This is because language does not provide a medium for direct contact with reality. Language only serves to name what has already been heard, seen, or thought. In this sense, the medium of language can paralyze intuitive creation and feelings.
2. Rudolf Arnheim Art and Visual Perception. Psychology of the Creative Eye. Madrid: Alianza. 1979 (original edition, 1954).
3. Idem.
4. Ackyroyd, Peter (2005). London: A Pilgrimage (introduction). Anthem Press. pp. XIX.*

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