Portret van Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring 1834

Antoine Maurin created this print, "Portret van Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring," in 1834. The lithograph employs delicate gray tones, and the composition draws us to the symmetrical portrait of a man. The subject’s gaze is direct, and the lines of his coat are balanced by the soft curls of his hair. The semiotic weight of the portrait comes not just from its likeness but from the cultural signs it carries. Consider the sitter’s medal, an emblem of status, subtly placed to catch the light. Maurin, through his skilled application of lithography, not only captures a physical likeness but also encodes a network of social meanings. The texture of the print adds depth, and the details in the shading suggest much about character and intellect. In the end, it is the artist’s formal decisions which speak volumes about the nature of representation itself, suggesting that a portrait is as much about what is shown as what is deliberately framed.