Verklede mensen vechten terwijl een grote groep toekijkt op Aswoensdag 1825 - 1829

Auguste Raffet made this lithograph, titled 'Verklede mensen vechten terwijl een grote groep toekijkt op Aswoensdag,’ using a stone matrix and greasy crayon, sometime in the mid-19th century. Lithography, as a printmaking technique, occupies a fascinating place in the history of art and labor. Unlike traditional methods, like woodcut or etching, lithography allowed for a more direct translation of the artist's hand onto the printing surface. Raffet would have drawn directly onto the stone with his crayon. The resulting print captures a scene of chaotic revelry. But consider the labor involved; quarrying, preparing the stone, the physical act of drawing, and then the repetitive task of printing. Each impression pulled from the stone would have been a product of skilled work, made available for mass consumption. The very material of lithography – the stone, the ink, the paper – speaks to the changing social and economic landscape of 19th-century Europe, and the rise of a print culture that democratized images and ideas.