Juni. Månedsbillede 1847

H. C. Henneberg made this tiny etching, “June, Picture of the Month,” in 19th century Denmark, and it delicately evokes a timeless pastoral world. The image shows two children in a bower of roses, accompanied by a dog and a goat, with one child adorning the other’s hair with flowers. We can read this through the lens of social history by considering the way institutions shape our understanding of art. Etchings such as these were often made as illustrations for books and magazines. In this era, the rise of Romanticism saw a nostalgia for simpler times, and as literacy rates increased, so did the demand for printed imagery. This idyllic scene reflects the values of the rising middle class, who sought moralizing depictions of innocence and harmony in art. To fully understand this etching, we might research the print culture of 19th-century Denmark. Art is always shaped by its social and institutional context.