Why this image
I've been obsessed with archived imagery for years Renaissance oil, ukiyo-e woodblocks, medieval engravings. Doré sits right in that current. He's known for stark black-and-white engravings, but The Ascension (rarely seen in colour) spills over with gestures, cloud depth, and crowded devotion. I'm drawn to works that feel like field notes from another world—pages you'd find in a lost atlas. The aim here is simple: translate that weight and detail into living cloth. Organic bases, dense line, layered tone. The piece you're holding is a bridge —so the story doesn't sit in a glass case or gallery backroom; it moves, ages, fades, and keeps taking.
Roughcut Ronin Anorak Pattern
L'Ascension (The Ascension)
Gustave Doré (French, 1832–1883)
Date: 1879 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 623 × 425 cm (20.4 × 13.9 ft)
Collection: Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Petit Palais Accession number: PDUT1438 Source: Paris Musées / CC0 (Public Domain) Reference: Paris Musées Collection – Work ID 222997
"Originally painted in 1879, The Ascension captures the divine moment of elevation surrounded by a flood of light, figures, and devotion. Doré is better known for his intricate black-and-white engravings—this rare colour canvas shows his hand in full form, layering clouds, robes, and light like carved air. Translating this image into fabric became a way to preserve its reverence and complexity—thread as brushstroke, weave as pigment. The intention is to carry forward its sense of awe, not on a museum wall, but through living material. A relic from the past crafted in the present."