Ô lieve kindren! wie gy zyt. / Besteed met nut uw dierbren tyd (...) 1791 - 1812

Editor: This is a print from the Rijksmuseum called "Ô lieve kindren! wie gy zyt. / Besteed met nut uw dierbren tyd (...)," made between 1791 and 1812 by Jacobus Thompson. It's an engraving in ink. I’m struck by the grid of little scenes, almost like a comic strip, and the slightly naive drawing style. What can you tell me about it? Curator: Well, immediately I'm drawn to the print medium itself. Consider the labour involved in producing multiple copies of this educational narrative. The etching process, the inking, the pressing... each step implicates a whole network of production and distribution. It makes you wonder about the social context: who was consuming these prints and how accessible were they to different social classes? Editor: So you're saying the *making* of the print, its physical production, tells us something important? Curator: Precisely. And the text too. Who decided that children needed these specific lessons, and how were these prints distributed among the populace? The interplay between image, text, and material execution offers a rich understanding of the period's didactic culture and emerging capitalist system. Notice that the publisher's information is printed directly on the piece, which, too, acts as another mode of marketing. It speaks volumes about the evolving market for such goods and the means of production in 18th-century Holland. Editor: It's fascinating to consider the print as a commodity, not just an artwork! I never would have looked at it that way. Thank you. Curator: Indeed, every object holds within it an embedded account of labor, and reflecting upon such dimensions reveals much that would otherwise be lost.