Illustration til "Halvhundrede Fabler for Børn" af Hey 1834

Martinus Rørbye made this illustration for "Halvhundrede Fabler for Børn" using engraving, a printmaking technique, sometime in the 1800s. The image shows a child seated with a cat, likely illustrating a fable. The visual codes here, like the child's simple dress and close interaction with an animal, reflect 19th-century Danish cultural values centered around domesticity and moral education. This was a time of national romanticism, and the Danish state saw the need for a shared cultural identity. Institutions such as schools began to shape cultural values through art and literature. Rørbye was trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, which played an important role in this process. Understanding this artwork requires us to look at the fables themselves, the social role of children's literature at the time, and the ways that art institutions shaped the careers of artists like Rørbye. Only then can we appreciate how these works contributed to the construction of Danish identity and social norms.