Tomb of Turenne in Salsbach, from "Le Magasin Pittoresque" 1843

Editor: Here we have Charles-François Daubigny's "Tomb of Turenne in Salsbach, from "Le Magasin Pittoresque"," created in 1843. It's an engraving, a landscape with figures, and something about the way the light falls makes it feel rather melancholic to me. What do you see in this piece? Curator: As a print intended for wide distribution within a popular magazine, this work invites us to consider the materiality of image-making and its accessibility to a broader public. The labor involved in producing the engraving itself becomes central. What does the medium tell us about its intended audience and its consumption? Editor: I hadn't really thought about it that way, I was focused on the composition of the tomb with its neoclassical obelisk and portrait bust surrounded by trees, but I guess being a widely available image, its value shifts? Curator: Precisely! The print’s very existence challenges the traditional art market, where unique paintings reign. Daubigny, a skilled painter in his own right, engaged with printmaking to reach a larger audience. Consider the process – the engraver's meticulous work translating Daubigny's original design. This is skilled labor made to seem invisible. Does this act democratize art, or does it participate in a burgeoning industry of image production? Editor: I suppose it’s both. The image is reproduced en masse, which somewhat devalues it, but at the same time, allows wider access, potentially influencing taste and opinions. Curator: Exactly. We see Romanticism filtered through the lens of industrial production, reshaping ideas about art, access, and cultural value itself. Think about how the materiality of cheap printed images affected artistic value. Editor: I am leaving this conversation thinking that there are other considerations for image valuation than just aesthetics. Thanks for your perspective! Curator: Likewise. This reminds us that artworks are not simply objects of aesthetic contemplation but products embedded in complex economic and social systems.