Fotoreproductie van een schilderij van de dood van koningin Elisabeth I van Engeland door Paul Delaroche before 1858

This is a photographic reproduction made by Robert Jefferson Bingham of Paul Delaroche’s painting of the death of Queen Elizabeth I. It’s a photograph in a book, and its material qualities speak volumes about nineteenth-century industrial processes. The image's sepia tones arise from chemical reactions on paper, rather than pigments applied by hand. This was an era of mass media, photography being an inherently reproducible medium. This reproductive capability democratized art, making imagery more accessible. But, this also transformed the role of the artist, shifting it from the hand to the photographic lens. Delaroche’s original painting must have taken weeks, maybe months, to make, while Bingham could capture the image in moments. But Bingham would have needed technical knowledge, plus a mastery of chemistry and optics. This photographic reproduction isn't just about preserving an image, it's about the social and economic shifts driven by industrialization. New kinds of labour and skill appear, shifting the artistic landscape.