Portrait of Henry IV
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 18.8 × 14.3 cm (7 7/16 × 5 11/16 in.); Sheet: 36 × 25.7 cm (14 3/16 × 10 1/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
145887
Art Historical Context
This lithograph portrait of King Henry IV, created in 1817 by French artist Baron François Pascal Simon Gérard, captures the beloved monarch who reigned from 1589 to 1610. Gérard, a leading Neoclassical painter and official portraitist to Napoleon, turned to the newly invented medium of lithography during the Bourbon Restoration. The technique, which allowed artists to draw directly on stone for reproduction, offered a fresh way to disseminate royal imagery to a broader public. Executed in black on ivory wove paper, the print measures just under eight inches high yet conveys regal authority t...