Tag: Gustave Doré

Here’s a remarkable piece of art; it’s by Gustave Doré so the “remarkable” part kind of goes without saying, and it’s called Ahasverus and His Curse of Immortality, made in 1860. Ahasverus or Ahasuerus is one of various names given to the Wandering Jew, who was cursed with immortality for mocking that Christ fellow while the latter was en route to being nailed up on that hill; I suppose this symbolises the people he’s met in his long life and vastly outlived… but what took me aback at first sight was, well, the smiley faces. And they’re not actually that, I know, when you look at the picture properly to see the details (click it to enlarge so you can do this), you realise the tombstones actually say “ci git” (here lies) and the dead person’s name… but when you look at it from a distance, damned if they don’t look like they’re smiling at him. It’s like they’re mocking him for having mocked Jesus or something. You may understand why I found this kind of disconcerting at first sight…