Princess Sophia 1898

Curator: "Princess Sophia," a wood engraving completed in 1898 by Timothy Cole, offers such an intimate, almost dreamlike quality. Editor: It strikes me as a Victorian fairy tale. The girl's gaze is direct, yet her surroundings soften around her like a hazy memory. Curator: Cole, deeply influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, worked meticulously, didn't he? Transforming paintings into these marvelously detailed prints. I believe this originated from a painting by Hoppner? Editor: Precisely. And his wood engravings really democratized art. Think about it, the ability to reproduce and disseminate images made artworks accessible to a much wider audience. However, who gets to be immortalized, and who’s memory fades remains political, no? Curator: Oh absolutely, who we chose to remember… I see in Sophia a tenderness and melancholy all at once. Her dress, so proper, contrasted against her expression, that hint of curiosity! Editor: Yes, and those large brimmed hats often obscured young women's faces, making it more challenging for viewers to access their identities while protecting their skin from sun exposure in an age when tanning indicated lower-class labour. Curator: Looking closer at her pose, it has an interesting fragility, doesn't it? Yet there's a strength, too; maybe its in how strongly she holds that basket. Editor: I see it as carefully crafted, Cole positions us to observe the ways that the wealthy have carefully performed gender and social class to cultivate images of the ideal society. Curator: These detailed engravings capture something… essential. The past isn’t some sepia toned wash; these artists let us reach into it with startling clarity. Editor: The way Timothy Cole painstakingly worked allows viewers to grapple with the layered meanings within these inherited images of people, especially those belonging to different social positions or holding positions of privilege and authority in our world.