Fumetto is showing works by Gustave Doré (1832–1883), one of the most influential 19th century draughtsmen, in a whole new light: in his early years he created astonishing comic strips, long before the ‘ninth art’ of the comic was officially born.

While Gustave Doré’s illustrations of the Bible and the Divine Comedy went into many editions during his lifetime and are still widely known today, his absurdly witty and socially critical early work has been more or less forgotten. Gustave Doré drew hundreds of short illustrated stories which were published in humorous newspapers. He also published four extensive books in comic form, the most mature of which, L’histoire dramatique, pittoresque et caricaturale de la Sainte Russie, contains almost 500 prints. This technically masterful early work by Gustave Doré, the sequential narrative of which is ground-breaking, is finally being made accessible to the public in an extensive exhibition.