Illustration nr. 7 til "L`Amour et Psyché" 1862

Editor: This is *Illustration nr. 7 til "L`Amour et Psyché"* created by Lorenz Frølich in 1862. It's an engraving, so a print, and the level of detail is astounding. I'm drawn to the interplay between the figures and the very elaborate frame around the scene. What can you tell me about this print? Curator: Well, let's start with the materiality itself. Consider the engraver’s tools: the burin, the metal plate, the acid. Frølich painstakingly etched these lines to create an image, one that could then be reproduced and distributed. Who would consume such an image? How does its accessibility influence its reception? Editor: So, you are interested in the print as a reproducible commodity in a specific context? Curator: Precisely. This print depicts a scene from the story of Cupid and Psyche. How might the narrative's themes of love, jealousy, and beauty connect with the lives and desires of the print’s intended audience in 19th-century Denmark? What’s the relationship between the hand-made element and its potential industrialisation through printing? Editor: That makes me think about how the engraving itself becomes a kind of industrial process. Although each print requires manual labour, the image exists outside the "original," it is multiplied... and the lines create the "form," a very specific aesthetic! Curator: Yes, and consider the 'high art' subject of mythology rendered through this readily reproducible medium. It challenges traditional hierarchies. The 'romanticism' of the scene and style sits well with a material reality, the democratising possibility of prints. How do you feel all this resonates? Editor: I see now that examining the material aspects of the print sheds light on broader social and cultural questions around production, consumption, and art’s place in society during the Romantic era.