The Dell 

Editor: So, this engraving is titled "The Dell," presumably by Gustave Dore, and depicts what looks like figures in a forest. The sheer level of detail achieved with, I imagine, a burin, is striking. How do you even begin to interpret a piece like this? Curator: Look closely at the density of labor evident in every line. Consider the cultural value placed on these skills at the time this print would have been consumed. We have to consider its value as both an object of artistic merit, and an industrially produced artwork. What can that tell us? Editor: You mean, thinking about the physical act of creating the image itself? All those tiny lines, and how long it would take to carve that? Curator: Exactly! And think about its intended purpose. Was it destined for a high art collection, or mass consumption via books or periodicals? The very materiality of the print—the paper, the ink—tells us about its accessibility and the audience it hoped to reach. Who was consuming images like these, and what did it signify to *them* to possess it? Editor: I guess I hadn't thought about that side of it – how the image's purpose connects to who could afford it, or access it. Like, was it trying to convey artistic skill, or just reach as many people as possible? Curator: Precisely. Consider how the availability of prints like these shaped perceptions and fostered conversations within Victorian society. By exploring the artwork through the lens of production and consumption, we reveal social and cultural currents often obscured by focusing solely on aesthetics. Editor: It really changes how I see it now, knowing how it was made probably affected its place in society, and what it even meant to people back then. Curator: Precisely. Considering these factors contextualizes the image within broader structures of labor and value.