Art, Symbol & Imagination
Heliodorus Punished in the Temple
A mounted heavenly figure and sweeping attendants descend among bodies recoiling on the steps of an immense temple. Doré makes the horse’s motion and the diagonal arms answer the rigid horizontals of the architecture. The encounter disrupts a place whose carved pillars otherwise suggest authority and stability. The caption identifies Heliodorus’ punishment, from the narrative in Second Maccabees. The plate presents an overwhelming intervention through the meeting of organised stone space and the bodies scattered across its steps.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Heliodorus Punished in the Temple" [editorial title]. In The Bible Gallery, Gustave Dore; Talbot W. Chambers. Undated Cassell & Company edition; one hundred illustrations with supplied descriptive letterpress, undated edition, Cassell & Company, Limited. Source scan leaf 233. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/bible-dore-232
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Complete plate reviewed against the scan; printed caption supplies subject. Crop excludes surrounding paper and separate caption without changing scan tone. Letterpress theology is not adopted as historical proof.
Sources
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The Bible GalleryGustave Dore; Talbot W. ChambersUndated editionMore from this book
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Cite this illustration
Gustave Doré (design). Heliodorus Punished in the Temple. The Bible Gallery. Scan leaf 233. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/bible-dore-232