Baroness von Bolen

This hand-colored lithograph presents a noblewoman in elaborate Edwardian dress, her corseted silhouette emphasized by vertical hatching in the skirt. The figure wears a striking purple capelet trimmed in ruffles, set against decorative magenta flowers. A heraldic shield appears upper right. The work descends from 19th-century European satirical print traditions—the exaggerated fashion details and rigid posture suggest social critique of aristocratic pretension and artificiality. Produced during World War I, when such imagery often carried nationalist or class commentary, the print exemplifies how color lithography enabled popular serial publication of caricatures targeting specific social types and their costumes as markers of vanity and removed privilege.