Portret van Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov 1853 - 1876

This is a portrait of Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov, created by Carel Christiaan Antony Last. It’s a lithograph, a printmaking process which relies on the subtle properties of grease and water. The image begins with a drawing made with a greasy crayon on a flat slab of limestone. The stone is then treated with chemicals, so that only the drawn areas will attract ink. Dampened paper is then pressed to the stone’s surface, transferring the image. The process can be repeated many times, making lithography ideal for mass production. You can see evidence of this in the fine hatching and the subtle gradations of tone, a labor-intensive effect. Lithography was the perfect medium to convey the rise of military leaders. It allowed for a relatively inexpensive and efficient way to produce images, catering to a growing public interested in news and personalities. The print flattens the sitter into a reproducible image. So, while appearing to be a work of fine art, the lithograph is in fact tied to wider issues of labor, politics, and consumption.