as described in the first chapter of Curious Myths of the Middle Ages where Sabine Baring-Gould attributed the earliest extant mention of the myth of the Wandering Jew to Matthew Paris. The chapter began with a reference to Gustave Doré's series of twelve illustrations to the legend, and ended with a sentence remarking that, while the original legend was so 'noble in its severe simplicity' that few could develop it with success in poetry or otherwise, Doré had produced in this series 'at once a poem, a romance, and a chef-d'oeuvre of art'. First published in two parts in 1866 and 1868, the work was republished in 1877 and in many other editions.[1]