Portret van Victor de Fay de Latour-Maubourg 1849

This is a portrait of Victor de Fay de Latour-Maubourg, made by Alphonse Farcy through lithography. Lithography emerged as a popular medium in France and the rest of Europe in the early 19th century, offering a relatively inexpensive method for producing multiple copies of images, and opening up a new market for portraiture. In this print, Latour-Maubourg is depicted as a man of status. The composition, with its focus on the figure's face and upper body, draws on conventions of formal portraiture and the figure’s clothing and composed posture signify social standing. This image offers a glimpse into the visual culture of the French elite at this time. To understand the full context of this work, we might consult biographical sources on both the artist and sitter, along with studies of the print market in 19th-century France, where the democratisation of images was taking place.