1796 Hand Colored Print of Italian Ruins Scene. Depicts a crumbling tower overgrown with foliage, with a goatherder and his goats in front of it beneath a cloudy sky. Title printed middle bottom in Italian cursive: "Sepolcro a Falerium citta Etrusca ditrutta." (roughly translated to "Tomb in Falerium, a destroyed Etruscan city.") The words "C. Reinhart (indistinct) Roma 1796" printed under the image bottom left. The number 28 is written in pencil bottom right. Framed. 

Condition: Slight toning. Chips on frame. Commensurate with age. 

Overall Size: 19 1/4 x 23 in. 

Sight Size: 11 1/2 x 15 in. 

In 1796 printing technology saw a significant advancement with the invention of lithography by Alois Senefelder in Germany. This method involved writing on a limestone plate with a greasy crayon, treating it with acid, and then printing with oil-based ink. Lithography was a revolutionary process because it allowed for the creation of multiple prints from a single plate, making it a more efficient and cost-effective way to print than previous methods. Earlier processes deteriorated rapidly, and as such prints from before this time are much rarer. At first used predominantly for making maps, it became the most widely adopted printmaking practice by the early 19th century for nearly every application, including art, portraiture, and mass production. Before lithography, the primary printing methods were woodblock printing and letterpress. Woodblock printing involves carving an image into a block of wood and then applying ink to it to transfer the image onto paper, and continues to be used around the world, mostly notably in Japan. Letterpress used individual metal type to create text and images, requiring a press to apply pressure to the type onto paper, and remained particularly popular up into the 20th Century thanks to industrial advancements in the speed and accuracy of printing.

Slight toning. Chips on frame. Commensurate with age.