Johann Alois Senefelder (also known as Alois Johann Nepomuk Franz Senefelder) was born on November 6, 1771, and died on February 26, 1834. He was a German actor and playwright who created a printing method called lithography in the 1790s.
Actor and playwright
Alois Johann Nepomuk Franz Senefelder was born in Prague, which was then part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. His father, an actor, was performing on stage there. Senefelder received his education in Munich and earned a scholarship to study law in Ingolstadt. After his father died in 1791, Senefelder had to stop his studies to help support his mother and eight siblings. He became an actor and wrote a successful play titled The Connoisseur of Girls.
Discovery and development of lithography
Problems with printing his play Mathilde von Altenstein left Senefelder in debt. Unable to afford to publish a new play, he experimented with a new etching method using a greasy, acid-resistant ink as a resist on a smooth, fine-grained stone made from Solnhofen limestone. He discovered that this method could be used to print directly from the flat surface of the stone, creating the first planographic printing process.
Senefelder partnered with the André family of music publishers and worked to refine his technique. He improved the chemical processes and developed a special printing press to use the stones. He called his method "stone printing" or "chemical printing," but the French term "lithography" became more widely used. In 1796, he and composer Franz Gleißner started a publishing company in London using lithography.
Land surveying offices across Europe quickly recognized the value of lithography for its ability to produce accurate, inexpensive prints. In 1809, Senefelder was appointed Inspector of a new institution in Bavaria called the "Lithographic Institute" (Lithographische Anstalt) in Munich. Under his guidance, similar institutions were later established in Berlin, Paris, London, and Vienna.
Senefelder obtained patent rights for his invention across Europe and shared his findings in 1818 in a book titled Vollständiges Lehrbuch der Steindruckerei. The book was translated into French and English in 1819. A Complete Course of Lithography combined Senefelder’s account of his invention with practical instructions on using lithography. The book remained in print until 1977 (Da Capo Press).
Senefelder also used lithography for art. Unlike older printmaking methods, such as engraving, which required advanced skills, lithography allowed artists to draw directly onto the printing plate with common tools. As early as 1803, the André family published a collection of lithographs in London titled Specimens of Polyautography.
By 1837, lithography was improved to allow full-color printing using multiple plates. This technique, called chromolithography, became the most important method for color printing until the development of process color techniques.
Awards and legacy
Alois Senefelder was honored by King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria. A statue of him stands in Solnhofen, where lithographic stone is still mined. Another statue, created by sculptor Rudolf Pohle, was built in 1892 in a square called Thusneldaplatz in Berlin. The square was renamed Senefelderplatz in 1894. A train station named Senefelderplatz opened in 1913.
Senefelder’s work is compared to other important inventions, such as William Ged’s stereotyping, Friedrich Koenig’s steam press, and Ottmar Mergenthaler’s linotype machine. His method made printing more affordable and widely used in art and newspapers. He lived to see his process become popular for both art printmaking and picture reproduction in the printing industry. He died in Munich and is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof.
Several plant species are named after him. These include the genus Senefeldera (Euphorbiaceae family), named in 1841, and Senefelderopsis (Euphorbiaceae family), named in 1951.