Eugène Carrière developed an unusual approach to lithography, typically working from dark to light, as seen in this portrait of his young son Jean-René. Rather than drawing with a lithographic crayon, Carrière covered his entire stone with ink, which he then wiped and scraped away to create areas where the paper would show through when printed. Here, the visual effects of this technique combine with expressive, almost abstract forms to give the subject a fantastic, dreamlike atmosphere.