Portret van Louis-Jean-Nicolas Lejoille 1837

Antoine Maurin made this portrait of Louis-Jean-Nicolas Lejoille using lithography, a printmaking process that renders a drawing made in wax crayon on a flat stone. The image is ghostly, almost like a memory. Lithography was a relatively new and efficient medium in the early 19th century, perfectly suited to the era's burgeoning print culture and mass communication. The level of detail achieved here is remarkable. The shading gives the image a softness, emphasizing the sitter's fashionable hairstyle and the fine detailing of his military jacket. Look closely, and you can see the delicate buttons and epaulettes. Unlike painting, lithography allowed for multiple impressions of the same image, making portraits like this accessible to a wider audience. The material and process speak to a shift in artistic production, a move away from unique, handcrafted objects and toward reproducible images in a more democratic, capitalist world.