Sketch for "The Wolf Turned Shepherd" (recto) (c. 1868): Art, History and Details

Sketch for "The Wolf Turned Shepherd" (recto) (c. 1868) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Gustave Doré (French, 1832–1883).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

“The Wolf Turned Shepherd” is a fable in which a disguised wolf approaches a flock of sheep while their shepherd sleeps. The wolf is ultimately discovered while impersonating the shepherd, waking the flock’s caretaker with its howl. Gustave Doré’s early sketch focuses on the wolf’s piercing gaze, highlighting his cleverness and overconfidence. Doré was among the most successful and versatile illustrators of the mid-1800s, and his illustrations for The Fables of La Fontaine—to which the final version of this drawing belongs—contributed to his fame. First published in France in 1867, the book was soon reissued in other countries.

Object facts

• Title: Sketch for "The Wolf Turned Shepherd" (recto)
• Date: c. 1868
• Creator attribution: Gustave Doré (French, 1832–1883)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: graphite
• Dimensions: Sheet: 30.1 x 22.2 cm (11 7/8 x 8 3/4 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1956.37.a

Collection credit

Gift of Leo Weidenthal

Further reading listed by the museum

• Montañés-lleras, Susana. “Of Technology and Fantasy: fairy tales, fables, and the transformation of illustration in the long 19th century.” Gramarye : The Journal of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy 28 (Winter 2025): 51-65.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.