Street of the Old Lantern (Death of Gérard de Nerval)

Here Gustave Doré reinvents the notion of the apotheosis as Death elevates the rather eccentric poet Gérard de Nerval into the spirit world. Even among his bohemian friends, De Nerval's attachment to his pet lobster was considered unusual. His Romantic preference for the spectral is manifest in his statement that This life is a hovel and a place of ill-repute. I'm ashamed that God should see me here. He was much beloved in artistic circles, but suffered periodic insanity and fell into poverty. On the night of January, 26, 1855, he hanged himself from a window grate.