17. Table XVII. Combination of the Features of the Innocent 

Editor: Here we have Alexander Cozens' "Table XVII. Combination of the Features of the Innocent," a delicate drawing. The thin lines and unfinished quality give it a sense of being a study. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I'm drawn to how Cozens deconstructs the ideal of innocence. He presents it as a manufactured image, a "combination of features." It makes you wonder about the social forces that shaped these standards of beauty and the labor involved in producing them. How does this challenge notions of innate beauty? Editor: That’s a great point! It reframes innocence as a construct, not something inherent. I never thought of it that way. Curator: Exactly, and consider the paper itself, the tools, the printmaking process – it all speaks to the materiality and production of an ideal.