Briefje over de herdruk in 1781 van de serie van de sledevaart van 1776 Possibly 1781 - 1787

This note from 1781 concerns a reprint of a series of prints originally made in 1776, all relating to a "sledevaart," or sleigh ride. It's an anonymous piece, made with ink on paper, and now residing here at the Rijksmuseum. The note itself details the logistics of the reprinting: where the plates are to be sent – from Amsterdam to Leiden – and that 1300 copies were printed. What's fascinating about this object is that it gives us insight into the art market of the Dutch Republic at the time. The fact that these prints were popular enough to warrant a reprinting five years later speaks to a demand for this kind of imagery. We can learn more about this demand by looking at the original prints themselves. Where were they sold? Who purchased them? What kind of cultural values did the images represent? These are just some of the questions that a social historian might ask when examining this seemingly simple note. Ultimately, it reminds us that even the most unassuming of documents can reveal much about the cultural and economic landscape of its time.