Fotoreproductie van een schilderij door Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, voorstellend Thomas van Villanova die aalmoezen uitdeelt c. 1860 - 1880

This is a photographic reproduction of a painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, made by Juan Laurent in the 19th century. Instead of traditional art materials like paint and canvas, Laurent used light-sensitive chemicals and paper, early technologies tied to mass media. Look closely, and you'll notice how the texture of the original painting—likely visible brushstrokes and the weave of the canvas—is flattened and transformed into a new surface quality. Photography, by its nature, is indexical. It captures a direct trace of what's in front of the lens. Yet, this is not a straightforward record. It's an interpretation, one that brings the artistry of painting into dialogue with the industrializing world. Consider the social context. Reproductions like these democratized art. They made masterpieces accessible to a wider audience, fueling both education and consumer culture. In this sense, Laurent’s work reflects the changing landscape of art, labor, and consumption in the 19th century, blurring the lines between the unique aura of a painting and its mass-produced image.