Portret van gravin Antoinette Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg

This print depicts Fürst Carl Thauttmannsdorff, and was made anonymously using lithography. The nature of the lithographic process is critical to understanding this image. Each color requires a separate stone, and a separate pass through the press. A print like this would have been relatively labor-intensive, requiring the coordination of several skilled artisans. Look closely, and you can see that the colors are slightly misregistered, indicating the difficulty of this procedure. The print simulates the opulence of aristocratic life; the sitter's elaborate clothing speaks to dynastic power and privilege. Consider the textile manufacturing that would have been necessary to create the original garments, the mining of precious metals for jewelry, and the skilled labor of tailors and seamstresses. Seen in this light, even a relatively humble printed image such as this one can be understood as a document of larger economic realities. It allows us to consider questions of labor, and class alongside traditional aesthetic concerns.