Begrafenisoptocht voor Lord Raglan, 1855 1855

Thomas Henry Nicholson made this print of Lord Raglan’s funeral procession in 1855. The medium here is key: this is an engraving, made by incising an image into a metal plate, inking it, and running it through a press. The result is a crisp, repeatable image, perfect for mass circulation. Indeed, this scene would have been disseminated through illustrated newspapers, bringing news from the Crimean War to a wide audience. This was modern media, and the images it conveyed shaped public opinion. Consider all the labor involved: the artist’s hand skillfully rendering the scene, the technicians preparing the plates, the press operators churning out copies, and the distributors getting them into people’s hands. All this just to inform the public about a single event. In this context, even a somber occasion like a funeral becomes a commodity, circulated and consumed as part of a broader information economy. It reminds us that the materials and methods used to create an artwork are never neutral, but are deeply intertwined with the social and economic forces of their time.