[version française ci-dessous]
This article is written for specialists of Tolkien’s texts but not necessarily of its illustrations. It is meant to be published in journals such as Mythlore, Tolkien Studies or the Journal of Tolkien research, exploring the literary dimension of Tolkien’s works. Readers of The Hobbit may be unfamiliar with some of the vocabulary coming from art history, but they are familiar with the question of reception, and I am hoping to show how illustrations may shed light on the artist’s reading of a text.