Ball-Souper (1895)

Dated 1895, "Ball-Souper" is an artwork by Adolph von Menzel. Illustration, a short history: Printing methods such as woodcut, engraving, lithography, and photomechanical reproduction each shaped how illustrators worked. Illustration serves a text or a story, a tradition that runs from decorated medieval manuscripts to printed book plates, magazines, and posters. About the period around 1895: In the 1890s, colour lithography and Art Nouveau made the illustrated poster a celebrated art form. The later nineteenth century is the era of Impressionism, whose first group exhibition was held in Paris in 1874, followed by Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and the Arts and Crafts movement. The catalogue places it in Illustration. The format is landscape.

Your purchase of "Ball-Souper" on onlly.art is a digital download: Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI. After payment the download link arrives by email, and you can send the files to any print service you trust. A landscape format suits wide, low wall spaces such as the stretch above a bed, mantel, or sideboard. If you are unsure about size, measure the wall first, then pick a frame whose proportions follow the image. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size. Matte and fine-art papers reduce glare in bright rooms, while glossy papers give stronger contrast and deeper blacks. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing.

German, 1815–1905

If you like the visual language of Adolph von Menzel, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.