Polychrome Chromolithography – Virgin Of The Rosary – Period: Early 20th Century

Period: Early 20th century
Dimensions: Height: 56.5cm x Width: 46.5cm x Depth: 2cm

From the Greek lithos, “stone” and graphein, “to write”, lithography is a flat printing process (unlike engraving) invented in 1796 by Aloys Senefelder. 
Colour lithography was developed in 1837 by Godefroy Engelmann, who gave it the name “chromolithography”.
Contrary to what you may read on many websites, it is not a process based on four-colour printing, a technique that would not see the light of day until around thirty years later.
Lithography, and later chromolithography, were born of technological progress and ushered in the mass distribution of works and paper media. 
While these processes were an important link in the chain of information and the popularisation of knowledge, they were also the source of the first advertising and, unfortunately, sometimes served very sad causes.

Chromolithography was perfected and developed over the course of the 19th century, affecting all fields, including commerce, with the most diverse forms of advertising. 
It was used for posters, catalogues, calendars, labels, leaflets, packaging, collectable images and so on. 
Eventually, the images that were massively distributed as premiums to promote products, shops and brands came to be known as “chromos”.

During the early years of their history, premium cards featured children’s or playful images. 
Later, more serious subjects were tackled: history, geography, famous people, the arts, science, etc. 
Commercial and advertising information was usually on the reverse. Through these images, the spirit of an era is expressed, with its conquests, its beliefs, its hopes, its projections into the future…