Portret van W.O. von Horn 1822 - 1863

Lazarus Gottlieb Sichling made this print of W.O. von Horn sometime in the mid-19th century using lithography. As a process, lithography democratized image-making, making it easier and cheaper to reproduce images. Here, von Horn is depicted as a respectable, smartly dressed man who would have been part of the emerging middle class. The print is signed by both the artist and the sitter, confirming its status as a work of record. Prints like this would have been produced and circulated widely throughout the German lands and beyond. They capture the emergence of a new kind of society in the 19th century. The institutions of art also changed in this period, with the rise of public museums and galleries and the expansion of the art market. Further research using archives of prints, newspapers and other printed matter from the period would tell us more about the context and meaning of this image.