![The Public Domain Review](/static/pdr-logo_2x-a9aa17abb46a7af84cd791867a6031ec.png)
gustave dore
![Picturing Don Quixote](https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/essays/picturing-don-quixote/1863b-Paris-Hachette-01-001-f-2.jpg?w=600&h=1200)
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes, author of one of the best-loved and most frequently illustrated books in the history of literature — Don Quixote. Rachel Schmidt explores how the varying approaches to illustrating the tale have reflected and impacted its reading through the centuries. more
![Precedents of the Unprecedented: Black Squares Before Malevich](https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/essays/before-black-square/Malevich-feature.jpg?w=600&h=1200)
Precedents of the Unprecedented: Black Squares Before Malevich
Described by Kasimir Malevich as the “first step of pure creation in art”, his Black Square of 1915 has been cast as a total break from all that came before it. Yet searching across more than five hundred years of images related to mourning, humour, politics, and philosophy, Andrew Spira uncovers a slew of unlikely foreshadows to Malevich's radical abstraction. more