Lord Oxmington Repelling Lismahago's Challenge to Single Combat, an illustration from Tobias Smollett's "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker" (London, 1793), Vol. 1 1793

Curator: Let’s turn our attention to this engraving by Charles Grignion, made in 1793. The scene illustrates a moment from Tobias Smollett's novel, "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker," and is titled "Lord Oxmington Repelling Lismahago's Challenge to Single Combat." Editor: Oh, chaos in a drawing! I immediately sense the pent-up tension of a moment about to explode. The scene is crammed with figures, their expressions ranging from outright fear to strained composure, but their bodies convey drama. Curator: Precisely! Grignion used etching and engraving to capture this charged narrative. Observe how the tight linework builds a sense of confinement within this interior setting. Can you elaborate more about that effect, maybe referring to the medium? Editor: As you mentioned, the engraving is very meticulous, reflecting the detailed labor needed. Look closely, and you’ll see that Grignion varied line thickness, creating areas of light and shadow, while textures simulate different fabrics and materials. This would require significant labor hours – something the readership most likely took for granted in consuming prints at the time. Curator: True. It’s quite an interesting commentary on the consumption of conflict here. Speaking of which, consider the moment he chose to represent. Lord Oxmington, poised and disdainful, holds off the agitated Lismahago, as their companions intervene. It is not exactly a moment of decisive action but one pregnant with possibilities, maybe mirroring tensions in the consumerist society he engraved within. What does it bring to your mind? Editor: Absolutely, I see in Oxmington a man refusing to act on the passion Lismahago is feeling, even belittling him; it reminds me that these dramas in ink are also social performances, commenting on restraint, violence and class division that are mediated via prints to be reproduced on mass scale for drawing rooms, books and all manner of decorative objects. The story in its first rendition must of had similar social ramifications as Grignon's interpretation. Curator: An incisive reading. I hadn’t considered how the scene, rendered through Grignion’s labor-intensive technique, gains additional significance with all the possible reiterations of it after his engraving work! Editor: It's interesting to think how such an intense scene becomes tamed into something neat and manageable to observe.