Specimens of Polyautography

Invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798 as a cheaper substitute for letter-press printing, lithography was first patented in London under the name ‘polyautography’ in 1800. Senefelder soon sold the license to the music publisher Johan Anton André, based in Offenbach am Main, in 1801. His younger brother, Philipp André, was running the London branch of the family firm and became the legal patentee. While his brother in Germany was mainly using the new method to print sheet music, Philipp in London directed his efforts toward the promotion of lithography as a fine art printing process by inviting many of the leading artists of the day to try the new technique, providing them with all the requisite materials and instructions, with a view to publishing a selection of the artists’ submissions. A first issue of twelve plates was published in 1803. It comprised some of the earliest artist’s lithographs to be published in any country, and Felix H. Man described it as the most important publication of early lithographs in England, ‘not only superior to anything done on the continent during the first years of lithography, but even serving as a model for similar publications in Germany a few years later’ (Felix H. Man, Lithography in England (1801-1810), in: Zigrosser, p. 99). Many of the plates are drawn in a lively, fluid manner, facilitated by the ease of drawing with pen and tusche onto the stone. It seems however that none of the artists - nor the printer for that matter – had at this point quite realised the unique potential of lithography: the ability to create tone without having to resort to cross hatching. Accustomed as they were to etching and engraving, they still depended on the single drawn line to created their images. The public’s reception of the new technique was indifferent and the project a financial failure. In 1805, Philipp André resigned and the enterprise was taken over by Georg Jacob Vollweiler, who proceeded to publish a second issue in 1806-07, which comprised a total of 36 lithographs, including the twelve original plates. Some plates, most notably the ones by West and Fuseli (see lot 114), appear to have been reworked for the purpose of re-publishing, with minor additions and reinforcements unlikely to have been made by the artists themselves.

Five complete sets of the first issue, including this one, are known, in the collections of: the V&A, London; Morgan Library, New York; British Art Center, Yale; and a private collection. The next largest holding, consisting of six of the twelve plates formerly from the Felix H. Man Collection, is at the The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.