Christian Johan Bredsdorff 1841

Ferdinand Richardt made this portrait of Christian Johan Bredsdorff using lithography, a printmaking technique that relies on the chemical repulsion of oil and water. The image begins with a drawing, done with a greasy crayon on a flat stone matrix. The stone is then treated with chemicals, so that only the drawn areas will accept ink. This allows for multiple impressions to be made, each retaining the character of the original drawing. Here, you can see the fine, almost scribbled quality of Richardt’s marks, giving the portrait a soft, lifelike quality. Lithography democratized image production in the 19th century, making art more accessible, and opening up new possibilities for artists to engage with mass culture. The marks of labor are literally embedded in the matrix of the stone, and then transferred to the page. Considering the material and making of this artwork allows us to move beyond the mere subject of the portrait, and to think about the broader social and cultural context in which it was produced.