The Genius of Lithography (1819): Art, History and Details

The Genius of Lithography (1819) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nicolas Henri Jacob (French, 1782–1871).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Genius of Lithography celebrates the new printmaking technique (invented in 1798) that revolutionized illustration and enabled the reproduction of images at a reasonable cost, since numerous impressions can be printed from the lithographic stone. Artists liked the medium's flexibility: while rich blacks could be achieved for shadows, and every tone of gray was possible, a sharp point could scratch white highlights into dark areas.

Object facts

• Title: The Genius of Lithography
• Date: 1819
• Creator attribution: Nicolas Henri Jacob (French, 1782–1871)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: crayon lithograph with brush and scratchwork
• Dimensions: Image: 19 x 16.3 cm (7 1/2 x 6 7/16 in.); Sheet: 26.7 x 19.9 cm (10 1/2 x 7 13/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Lithograph
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1999.39

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.