Portrait of a Decorated Gentleman, Tinted Lithograph, circa 1887

About this sheet

This large lithographed portrait shows an unnamed man of middle years, head and shoulders, turned slightly to the left within a vignetted oval. He has thick hair swept back from a broad forehead and full side whiskers joined beneath the chin, and he wears a dark coat over a high collar and a wide, loosely tied silk bow. On his lapel hangs a chain of three miniature decorations, two crosses and a star, a sign that the sitter held orders of merit.

The portrait is signed in the stone at lower right with a flourished signature and a date, and there is no title, no name of the sitter and no printer's line. The image is printed on a warm buff tint, which softens the contrast and gives the effect of a drawing on tinted paper, a manner much used for commemorative portraits in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in Munich in 1796 and became the favorite medium for the large portrait print, because the artist drew directly on the stone with a greasy crayon and the print kept all the grain and softness of a chalk drawing. Here the face is modeled in fine, even tone, the whiskers in broken textured strokes, and the coat and background in broad diagonal shading that dissolves toward the edges of the oval.

Portraits of this kind were made for a sitter's family, friends, colleagues or society, often on an anniversary or at the close of a career, and printed in small numbers. Where no name is attached they are collected for the strength of the drawing and the character of the face, and this one, with its frank expression and fine whiskers, would make a handsome picture for a study, a hallway or a gentleman's club style wall of portraits.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.