Geraint and Enid Ride Away
Gustave Doré, 1832-1883
Gouache and watercolor on brown paper
Signed and stamped verso with Frederic R. Halsey's collector's mark
16 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches, 42.5 x 31.7 centimetres
An illustration for the Moxon Idylls of the King
And moving out they found the stately horse,
Who now no more a vassal to the thief,
But free to stretch his limbs in lawful flight,
Neigh'd with all gladness as thy came, and stoop'd
With a low whinny, toward the pair: and she
Kiss'd the white star upon his noble front,
Glad also; then Geraint upon the horse
Mounted, and reached a hand, and on his foot
She set her own and climb'd; he turn'd his face
And kiss'd her climbing, and she cast her arms
About him, and at once they rode away.
And never yet, since high in Paradise
O'er the four rivers the first roses blew,
Came purer pleasure unto mortal kind
Than lived thro' her, who in that perilous hour
Put hand to hand beneath her hasband's heart,
And felt him hers again: she did not weep
But o'er her meek eyes came a happy mist.
Commentary by Peter Nahum
In the late 1860s, having completed the series of grotesque and comic drawings for Le Journal pour Rire, Doré was asked to illustrate Tennyson's four volumes Idylls of the King.
According to M. Claetie, the thirty-six compositions illustrating the Idylls rank as hi's best inspirations, and are enough to make the lastingjame of the artist. Doré was at home in Tennyson's exquisite dreamland. He revelled in the succession of pictures, Merlin resting against an old oak, the exploits of Lancelot, the heroic deeds of the Knights of the Round Table, the black shadows of the forest, the enchanting lakes. Poet never had daintier dressing than the Laureate had in the Idylls of the King, as produced by Messrs. Moxon. It was said of them, 'Their issue has given wings to the muse of Mr Tennyson.' These wings bore them to foreign lands and gave them new homes. [Jerrold, 143-46]
Provenance: The Doré Gallery, London, 1891; Frederic R. Halsey, New York from 1901; The Anderson Galleries, New York, The Frederic R Halsy Collection of Prints. Part X. Caricatures, Costume Plates, Lithographs and Original Drawings, 7th and 8th January 1918, lot 192, as The Flight.
References
A Century of Master Drawings, Watercolours, & Works in Egg Tempera. London: Peter Nahum, nd. Catalogue number 77.
Jerrold, Blanchard. Life of Gustave Doré. London: W H Allen, 1891. Pp. 144-147
Tennyson, Alfred. "Enid." Idylls of the King. London: Edward Moxon, 1868. Illustration no. 9, text p. 95.
_______. "Enid." Les Idylles du Roy vol. in folio, 36 dessins sur acier, Paris: M M Hachette et Cie, 1869.
Last modified 6 December 2004