Valdemar sejers søn dræbes på jagt på Refsnæs 1880s

Editor: This is an engraving and lithograph titled "Valdemar sejers s&#x00f8n dr&#x00e6bes p&#x00e5 jagt p&#x00e5 Refsn&#x00e6s," created in the 1880s by Adolph Kittendorff. It depicts a hunting scene gone terribly wrong. The stark monochrome really emphasizes the tragedy. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a detailed record of material practices. Engraving and lithography are key here; these printmaking methods allowed for mass production and dissemination of this image. We should ask, who was the intended consumer, and what story about power and death does this process perpetuate? Note also the integration of hunting as both aristocratic past-time and a form of resource exploitation visualized in the medium itself. How does the "landscape" element function? Editor: So, you're suggesting the choice of printmaking itself is significant? That it speaks to the themes within the artwork? The landscape element seems almost like a stage for this scene, highlighting the divide between rulers and nature. Curator: Precisely. The method creates availability and tells us about audience. Look at the material qualities inherent in printmaking—the pressure, the transfer of image, the creation of multiples. All of it transforms perceptions. Now, how does the combination of a tragic historical narrative *and* this particular method of reproduction play into how people received and understood the role of nobility, mortality, and landscape in 19th century Denmark? Editor: It’s almost like the act of creating the image mimics the hunting itself – an exploitation and claiming of the subject for distribution. Thinking about it this way reveals so much more than just the story being told! Curator: Indeed. This deep dive helps us challenge high art’s borders and see all the materials, labor, and social context as one, inseparable artwork.