Portret van Benjamin Constant c. 1827 - 1833

This is a lithograph of Benjamin Constant by Nicolas Maurin, made sometime in the first half of the 19th century. In it, we see a half-length portrait of a man with powdered hair, wearing a high-collared coat and ruffled shirt. Constant was a Franco-Swiss political thinker and writer, whose theories of constitutional monarchy and individual liberty influenced early liberalism. Maurin’s lithograph captures the sober and serious tone that we might expect in a portrait of a man of letters. But lithographs like these also served a crucial function in disseminating images of important cultural figures to a wider public. In France, the rise of print media was deeply intertwined with the political upheavals of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It offered new ways to shape public opinion and forge a collective identity. To fully understand this image, it would be helpful to research the history of French printmaking, the development of political thought, and the role of portraiture in shaping public identity. The meaning of this portrait resides not just in its aesthetic qualities, but in its function as a cultural and historical artifact.