Soldaten vragen passagiers naar officiële documenten after 1826

This print by Joseph Ambroise Jobard depicts soldiers asking passengers for official documents, with the print itself made using a technique called lithography. Lithography is a planographic process, meaning the image is neither incised as in engraving nor raised as in woodcut. The artist draws directly onto a stone or metal plate with a greasy crayon, then treats the surface so that ink adheres only to the drawn areas, which are then printed. This method allowed for relatively quick and inexpensive reproduction, making images like this accessible to a broad audience. The image shows us something about the social context of early 19th-century Europe. The presence of the soldiers, their meticulous inspection of papers, and the reactions of the travelers, all point to a society under tight control. In this sense, the lithographic print and its subject matter are closely aligned. The print itself testifies to the new possibilities of mass communication, while also indirectly commenting on issues of labor, politics, and consumption.