Portret van Lodewijk XIII, koning van Frankrijk 1825 - 1842

This is Nicolas Maurin's portrait of Louis XIII, King of France, made in the 19th century. It's a lithograph, a printmaking technique that relies on the subtle interaction of grease and water on a flat stone or metal plate. The image is defined by a sharp contrast of tones, creating a highly finished, almost photographic appearance. But don't be fooled - this was a laborious, skillful process. The artist would have drawn the portrait onto the prepared surface with a greasy crayon, then chemically treat it so that only the drawn areas would hold ink. Each print would then need to be made individually on a press. Lithography democratized image production in the 19th century, making portraits like this much more widely available. While not everyone could afford an oil painting, a lithograph made it possible to have the likeness of a king – or any other figure – hanging in their home. By understanding the materials and processes involved, we can see how printmaking was tied to wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption, and the amount of work involved in the production process.