St. Paul At Ephesus 

This is Gustave Doré's "St. Paul at Ephesus," made sometime between 1866 and 1883, likely as an engraving. It depicts a scene from the Bible where new converts burn their books of magic. Doré made many such engravings illustrating classic literature, often in the style we see here: dramatic, shadowed, and densely populated. France in the 19th century was a place of great social change and religious questioning, as the rise of science challenged older belief systems. Religious art had to compete with new forms of visual culture such as photography and mass-market printmaking, which could depict the world more accurately. It is no coincidence that Doré chose printmaking as a way to bring biblical imagery to a wide audience. Today, historians study religious art like this in conjunction with literary sources, popular culture, and the history of institutions such as the church and the art market. In this way we can discover its meaning.