Sancho Panza Persuading the Don to Marry 

Editor: This is Thomas Stothard's "Sancho Panza Persuading the Don to Marry," held at the Tate. The characters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, are quite prominent. What's interesting to you about the public reception of this kind of imagery, depicting literary characters? Curator: Well, prints like these, circulating widely in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, shaped public understanding of literary figures and, by extension, societal values. Consider how Stothard’s romanticized depiction of Don Quixote might influence public perception of heroism and its place in society. Do you think it elevated or critiqued those ideals? Editor: I suppose it could do both, depending on who's looking at it and what they already believe. Thanks, that's a good point.