Portret van Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (burggraaf van Turenne) 1820 - 1827

This is a portrait of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, engraved by Jean Pierre Sudre. The engraver's burin precisely renders not just the likeness of the subject, but also the texture of his clothing. The dense clusters of marks build up the image from the ground of the paper. The lines on the face are closely packed, almost like a topographic map, to define the planes of his face, while the background is made with softer hatching to suggest depth. Look closely, and you can see the armor rendered as reflections of light. The collar is a delicate pattern of dots and dashes. This wasn't just an artistic process; it was also a commercial one. Prints like these allowed images to be widely distributed. They could be collected, studied, and used to promote political ideas. Understanding the labor-intensive process of engraving gives us a new appreciation for the print, and its role in culture and politics.