This is the Story of the Bible, in pictures both new and old. These images started out as sketches by Gustave Doré, who died in 1883. During his short life, he produced striking paintings, from small projects to the enormous Le Christ quittant le prétoire (nearly 30 feet long and just over 19 feet high). Painting didn’t pay well, so he also produced woodcuts by the hundreds, illustrations for picture books, newspapers, and classics — literally everything from caricatures and street scenes to Little Red Riding Hood and the crucifixion. Among his voluminous work, we find a set of biblical illustrations unmatched in beauty and scope. Doré’s engravers cut his sketches into end-grain wood (boxwood was a popular choice). Those wooden blocks were inked, pressed into paper, and Doré’s breathtaking black and white images were published in Bibles around the world. Fast-forward almost 150 years and a few technological revolutions. We made high resolution scans of Doré’s woodcuts. Our artist, Will Britton, digitally painted them, bringing Doré’s stunning black and white images into vibrant color.
We have organized these pictures in (mostly) chronological order. You can hop from one to the next like rocks in a riverbed, from the headwaters of the Story all the way down the river to its end — which is a new beginning. You’ll see the biblical Story as you’ve never seen it before, in all its beauty, brutality, and finally, grace.
Every once in a while, let your foot slip off the rocks. Pick up a Bible, look up that half-remembered episode, and immerse yourself in the water of life.
