Perrault 

Gustave Doré created this illustration for an edition of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales. It’s made with the technique of wood engraving. The nature of this process—transferring an image to a block of wood, then cutting away areas to leave a relief design—meant that Doré’s images could be reproduced on a massive scale, and cheaply. This put illustrated editions of classic stories within reach of the middle classes, not just the wealthy. But note, too, the social realities suggested by the picture itself. The children are carefully groomed and expensively dressed. And just look at the materiality of their toys. There’s a pull-along toy lamb, and a large Pierrot doll. In that era, these would have been hand-made, treasured possessions, a world away from the mass-produced toys of today. The image prompts us to consider the vast social and economic changes that have occurred between the era of the fairy tales themselves, and that of Doré’s own time.