Portret van kolonel kommandant Heydenreich 1829

This is a lithograph of Colonel Heydenreich made by Christian Heinrich Gottlieb Steuerwald in the Netherlands. The portrait depicts a military officer in full dress uniform and gives us insight into the social hierarchy of the time. Such portraits were often commissioned by or for the sitter and his family, to be displayed in their homes. They were a sign of status and power, and the accoutrements of the uniform are as important as the face of the sitter. The high level of detail and the time needed to create a lithograph meant that it was a relatively expensive medium, so it was generally a preserve of the upper classes. These kinds of images are invaluable historical documents. They can tell us about the prevailing attitudes and values of the time, especially when we view them alongside other documents such as military records, census data, and newspaper reports.