Portret van Louise Marie Thérèse Charlotte Isabelle van Orléans, koningin van België 1850 - 1876

This print of Louise-Marie Thérèse Charlotte Isabelle d’Orléans, Queen of Belgium, was made by Carel Christiaan Antony Last. This lithograph would have been made to circulate among the aristocracy and upper-middle classes of the Netherlands. The style of portraiture, framing the figure with cherubs and floral ornamentation, visually elevates the subject to a heavenly, goddess-like status. This imagery and iconography would have been well-understood at the time. The presence of the crown at the base of the portrait is also clearly meant to signify power. The artist, Last, was working at a time when lithography became an increasingly widespread method of printmaking. Unlike etching or engraving, lithography allowed for the relatively easy reproduction of images. Prints like this one allowed for imagery of the royal family to be widely distributed. Studying the history of printmaking technologies and their distribution helps us to understand the social and cultural role that images played at any given time.