Portret van Napoleon Frans Karel Jozef Bonaparte 1825

This print of Napoleon's son was made by Achille Désiré Lefèvre, who was born in 1798. It's a lithograph, which is a printmaking technique that involves drawing on a flat stone or metal plate with a greasy substance, then applying ink to the treated surface and pressing it onto paper. Here, the lithographic process results in an image that appears soft and delicate, as if rendered in chalk. It's a far cry from the hard lines of an engraving, and that contributes to the intimate, even sentimental, tone of the work. Consider the labor involved: a skilled draftsman would have had to meticulously recreate the original painting with the lithographic crayon, paying close attention to tonal values to achieve the illusion of depth and texture. This print brings forward the question of how an image can be disseminated widely through mechanical means. It suggests the complex political and social context in which such images circulated, raising questions about labor, class, and the commodification of artistic production. These materials and making processes are vital to understanding the full meaning of the artwork, challenging traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.