Ship in Stormy Sea
Gustave Doré
GUSTAVE DORÉ, 1876. WOOD ENGRAVING.
“Alone, alone, all, all alone, / Alone on a wide, wide sea!”, so speaks the Ancient Mariner of Coleridge’s epic poem from 1798. A tale of desolation, horror, isolation and despair, its words on issues of faith, morality, and the very nature of man inspired artists from the moment it was published and continue to do so to this day. It is unsurprising then, that Gustave Doré, the most celebrated printmaker and illustrator of his day, chose Coleridge’s work, alongside Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ and Cervante’s ‘Don Quixote’, as a text to illustrate. His wood engravings, printed in stark blacks, capturing the pervading sense of danger and loneliness that seeps from every line of the poem. There is something uncomfortably peaceful about the impending doom of this image, the riotous sea dissolving into delicate fractals as the boat is held suspended atop a wave, illuminated by the sharp white of moonlight atop the crests. Doré captures the essence of the poem in his images, transforming wood and ink into lyrical works that plunder the depths of our soul.