Cover Image: For I Know the Plans I Have for You – Schwoebel
Pursuant to some discussion in the choir room, the image of the man praying on the cover of Schwoebel’s For I Know the Plans I Have for You (Jeremiah 29:11-14) is in fact meant to be Isaiah. The image is taken from La Grande Bible de Tours, an 1866 publication of the Vulgate Bible including 241 wood engravings by French artist Gustave Doré (1832–1883). The image is associated with Isaiah 6:8-9, which is the moving culmination of Isaiah’s commissioning (“Whom shall we send? And who will go for us?” “Here am I. Send me.”) [1].
Gustave Doré was a prolific French artist working in several media. His woodcut illustrations used in the printing technology of the day can be found in all manner of work, such as Cervantes, Milton, and the like. At peak he employed some 40 wood cutters to convert his drawings. The Doré signature can be seen in the lower left hand corner of Isaiah, and the engraver (Héliodore Pisan (1822-1890)) in the lower right.
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- [1] In the Year that King Uzziah Died (David McKay Williams) is a big choral anthem in the ESUMC anthem library using the KJV version of Isaiah’s commissioning as the text
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9%27s_illustrations_for_La_Grande_Bible_de_Tours
- https://pitts.emory.edu/dia/image_details.cfm?ID=17157
