Illustration til O. Specter, "Fabler for Børn" 1838

This is an illustration for O. Specter’s "Fabler for Børn" by Vilhelm Kyhn, though the date of its making is unknown. It is rendered with etching on paper. Kyhn was a Danish landscape painter who came to play an important role in Danish art and national identity. This unassuming illustration hints at the larger politics of imagery and the way images can shape cultural values. The fable is a popular form through which to convey moral lessons. Think of Aesop, whose fables have shaped understandings of right and wrong in the Western tradition. Here we see a fable being explicitly connected with children, those who are being inducted into a specific set of cultural values. What are the values conveyed in Specter's fables and how might this image express them? The historian can look into the history of children’s literature, the role of the fable, and the work of Kyhn to shed light on the meanings of this small illustration.