Portret van Gaius Cornelius Tacitus 1830

This portrait of Gaius Cornelius Tacitus was made by Bernard Romain Julien, who lived from 1802 to 1871. It's made using a technique called 'lithography,' a method that democratized printmaking in the 19th century. Lithography involves drawing with a greasy crayon onto a flat stone or metal plate. The stone is then treated with chemicals so that only the drawn areas attract ink, which is then transferred to paper. This process allows for nuanced gradations of tone, which you can see here in the delicate rendering of Tacitus's features and the draping of his toga. Lithography enabled the mass production of images, making art more accessible to a wider audience, and provided graphic artists with an efficient means of distributing their designs. The relatively fast nature of lithography also allowed artists to respond to current events, and create illustrations for books and periodicals. Looking at this print through the lens of its making, it can open up questions about how industrialization affected artistic production, consumption and society.