Echtpaar bij kaarslicht in de slaapkamer 1846

Honoré Daumier created this lithograph, “Echtpaar bij kaarslicht in de slaapkamer,” using a printing process that was then revolutionizing the world of image-making. Lithography allowed artists to create multiple original images in a relatively quick and inexpensive manner. The image begins with a drawing, made with a greasy crayon on a prepared limestone. The stone is then treated with chemicals so that the ink adheres only to the drawn areas. The print is made by pressing paper to the inked stone. Daumier was a master of this industrial art form, and he used it to great effect to create social commentary. The velvety blacks and subtle greys you see here are characteristic of lithography, and well-suited to Daumier’s satirical purposes. The process perfectly conveys the drama of the scene, a bourgeois couple startled by a flickering candle. The artist implies that their fright is a symptom of a fearful, perhaps morally compromised, existence. Daumier used the industrial process of lithography not only to make art accessible, but to critique the very society that made such accessibility possible.