Military Prison
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 16.7 × 21.7 cm (6 5/8 × 8 9/16 in.); Sheet: 26.9 × 35.6 cm (10 5/8 × 14 1/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
48358
Art Historical Context
Denis Auguste Marie Raffet’s *Military Prison* (1827) captures a poignant glimpse into early nineteenth-century military life through the medium of lithography. Created just a few years after the artist began exhibiting his work, this print reflects the period’s growing interest in scenes drawn from recent conflicts, particularly those surrounding the Napoleonic era. The modest scale of the image—roughly the size of a small book page—invites close, intimate viewing, allowing the viewer to study the figures and architecture in detail. As a lithograph printed in black on ivory wove paper, the w...
About the Artist
Denis Auguste Marie Raffet · 1804–1860
Denis Auguste Marie Raffet (1804–1860) was born in Paris and displayed an early aptitude for drawing, though his initial apprenticeship was to a wood turner. He pursued art through evening classes and, at age eighteen, joined the workshop of Cabanel as a porcelain painter, where he met Rudor, who taught him lithography. Raffet studied under Nicolas Toussaint Charlet from 1824 to 1829 and completed...