Gezicht op Dordrecht met de Groothoofdspoort 1858

This print, "Gezicht op Dordrecht met de Groothoofdspoort", shows us the Dutch city of Dordrecht through the lens of Johannes Hilverdink's lithographic skills. Lithography, unlike painting, is a printmaking process rooted in the industrial era, allowing for relatively quick and repeatable production of images. Here, the stone would have been carefully prepared, and the image drawn with a greasy crayon, before being chemically etched to hold ink. Look closely, and you can see the subtle gradations of tone. This suggests the skill and labor-intensive processes involved in creating the printing stone. The choice of lithography aligns with the print's subject matter, the Groothoofdspoort, a site of trade and transport. We might think of the lithograph itself as an item of trade, a commodity produced for the market. In short, the image is not just of a place, but also of a time, a time when new technologies were transforming artistic production and social life.