Don Quixote 

Curator: Well, that's dramatic! Is that…a body flying through the air? A most emphatic, black-and-white rendering of a scene that's at once comic and slightly unsettling. Editor: It certainly grabs your attention. This is one of Gustave Doré's engravings illustrating Cervantes' *Don Quixote*. Though undated, it’s one of many that helped shape our visual understanding of this seminal work of literature and the romantic ideals it skewered. Curator: Skewered indeed! There he is, on Rocinante, looking almost…exasperated? Like, "Not this again," while someone's experiencing sudden aerial relocation. The romantic hero meeting the slapstick moment! Dore plays with that contrast so brilliantly; the dark tones really amplify that feeling of hapless heroism clashing with harsh reality. Editor: Absolutely. Look at how Doré uses light and shadow. The exaggerated drama of the scene underscores Quixote’s delusions. He’s on this perpetual quest to impose his ideals onto a world that simply doesn't adhere to them. The ‘tosser’, as the caption denotes, is just one example. The black and white medium adds to this, creating stark contrasts that are heavy-handed. Curator: And isn't that the heart of Romanticism in a nutshell? The grand gesture, the noble intention crashing headfirst into the mundane absurdity of life. And you’re right, the values seem very antiquated to a modern viewer; Doré understood that dichotomy. He’s having a chuckle, I think, at the expense of both Quixote and our own tendency to get lost in fantastical notions. The details of the houses too add to the scene. Editor: The landscape feels very active despite the static nature of the engraving. I'd suggest that Doré also speaks to the era in which *he* created this. The rise of the bourgeoisie, the decline of feudalism, a changing world where the old orders are literally being upended – like our airborne friend here! I think the question posed here, relevant at the time and now, concerns whether our social order can deal with such high intensity passions when those passions are divorced from reality. Curator: Ha! So maybe it is a hopeful piece after all. Editor: Only if you find humour and catharsis in the toppling of overblown ideas!