Henricus Wilhelmus Couwenberg kopieert een schilderij before 1846

Hendrikus Wilhelmus Last made this lithograph, titled 'Henricus Wilhelmus Couwenberg copies a painting', in the Netherlands in the 19th Century. It depicts an artist diligently copying a painting within what appears to be a domestic or studio setting. The act of copying art was a common practice, both for training and for producing more affordable versions of famous works, thus democratizing art ownership to a certain extent. Here the lithograph itself performs an act of copying, making art accessible to a wider audience through printmaking technology. This image speaks to the evolving role of art institutions and markets in 19th-century Europe. It hints at the emerging art market and the increasing importance of reproductions in disseminating art to a broader public. To fully understand this work, we can look into the institutional history of art education in the Netherlands at the time, and the rise of print culture. Art, we must remember, is always contingent on its social and institutional context.