The Frog Prince and other stories 1874

Walter Crane made this illustration for ‘The Frog Prince and other stories’ sometime between 1845 and 1915. It shows a scene with a knight in shining armor and a fearsome dragon with multiple heads. Crane was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement which emerged in England during the late Victorian period. This movement reacted against industrial manufacturing and embraced the aesthetics of pre-industrial craft. This image reflects the movement’s interest in medieval folklore and design, and its ideals of beauty and heroism. Although drawing on the visual codes of medieval romance, Crane's images were made for mass production and wide distribution within the marketplace for children's books. This allowed the Arts and Crafts Movement to exert its social and cultural influence on the domestic sphere. Historians interested in this image might research the publishing industry of the time, or the impact of the Arts and Crafts movement on British cultural life. The meaning of art, as we can see, is always contingent on social and institutional contexts.