Portret van François-Vincent Raspail

About this artwork

blad: hoogte 344 mm x breedte 220 mm

Art Historical Context

This striking lithographic portrait, created by French artist Achille Devéria between 1848 and 1849, captures François-Vincent Raspail, a prominent chemist, physician, and political activist. The timing is significant, as the work coincides with the revolutionary fervor of 1848 in France, when Raspail emerged as a vocal advocate for social reform and workers’ rights. Devéria, celebrated for his sensitive portrayals of notable contemporaries, used lithography—a medium prized in the nineteenth century for its ability to produce fine detail and multiple impressions—to bring such figures to a broader public. The artwork measures 344 by 220 millimeters, a format well suited to prints that could circulate easily through books, journals, and private collections. Lithography allowed artists like Devéria to blend precise line work with subtle tonal effects, lending the portrait both documentary clarity and an intimate, almost personal quality. Through this print, viewers today glimpse not only Raspail’s likeness but also the vibrant intellectual and political climate of mid-nineteenth-century Paris.

About the Artist

Achille Devéria · 1800–1857

Achille Jacques-Jean-Marie Devéria (1800–1857) was a French painter and lithographer whose prolific output and sophisticated portrait work made him one of the most important visual chroniclers of French Romantic culture. Born in Paris on February 6, 1800, Devéria came of age during the Restoration period and became closely associated with the Romantic movement that dominated French arts and letter...