The Genius of Lithography
- Date
- 1819
- made in
- Paris, Île-de-France region, France, Europe
- Classification
- Prints
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- image: 7 7/16 x 6 7/16 in. (18.9 x 16.3 cm)
sheet: 11 11/16 x 9 3/16 in. (29.7 x 23.3 cm) - Credit Line
- Funds given by Phoebe and Mark Weil
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 14:2007
NOTES
Nicolas-Henri Jacob gives form to the ancient idea of the Genius in this print. The Genius is an attendant spirit allotted to an art at its invention. Jacob depicts him as a winged male deity wearing a pendant which reads "invention." With a flame on his head, he appears in front of the female printmaker/muse who pulls a sheet of paper from a lithographic press.
Jacob's print accompanied a treatise on the art of lithography by Aloys Senefelder, who invented this revolutionary method of printmaking in 1796 in Munich. This print may have acted as a showpiece for the new medium's versatility: the image demonstrates how lithography can produce the deep black for the ink-covered roller seen at bottom right, and offer a wide range of grays in the skin tones and wings of the figures.
Jacob's print accompanied a treatise on the art of lithography by Aloys Senefelder, who invented this revolutionary method of printmaking in 1796 in Munich. This print may have acted as a showpiece for the new medium's versatility: the image demonstrates how lithography can produce the deep black for the ink-covered roller seen at bottom right, and offer a wide range of grays in the skin tones and wings of the figures.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.