The Golden Age 1777

Editor: This is Valentine Green's "The Golden Age" from 1777, a print combining etching and engraving. I'm struck by the quiet intimacy of the scene—a mother watching over her sleeping child. What’s your take on it? Curator: It feels to me like Green is playing with that old, ever-young tension between idealised peace and the rumblings of everyday life. We have this serene Madonna-like figure and babe rendered in almost classical forms nestled inside a decorative oval, right? Then glimpse through the window: what story is brewing there with those figures? Is it judgment? Disapproval? Perhaps longing? It tickles the imagination in the way that the best narrative scenes do, it leaves us hungry for what may happen next. Editor: I see what you mean. The scene through the window provides a contrast to the mother and child’s calm. I wonder why he included that in the composition. Curator: Well, maybe because life isn’t just honey and milk, even during supposed “golden ages,” which exist more often as ideals in our heads than real points in history. By showing us figures that appear more grounded, in perhaps a harder aspect of life, he might ask us about our nostalgia for idyllic times, and maybe to even question if those times existed. And there I go overthinking things, I do love this artist! Editor: No, that makes sense. The contrast complicates the initial sense of harmony and elevates the artwork. Curator: Right? It almost urges us to look for complexity even in simple, everyday images. Editor: This piece definitely has me thinking about how artists use contrasts to tell more complete stories! Curator: It's a subtle lesson, and a beautiful one. Something I think that Valentine Green really wants us to understand.