Nieuwjaarsprent van de Amsterdamse courantbezorger voor het jaar 1757 1756 - 1757

This is a New Year's print for the year 1757, offered to the residents of Amsterdam by the newspaper deliverers. It's a printed broadside, a cheap and cheerful medium designed for mass consumption. Look closely, and you'll see how the text dominates the image. It's filled with news, doggerel verse, and calendars – all intended to bring glad tidings for the year ahead. But consider the labor involved: the typesetting, the printing, the distribution of these sheets door to door. Prints like these were ephemeral, meant to be read and then discarded, yet they represent a complex interplay of commerce, information, and urban life. The news itself, fabricated or factual, was a commodity, and these prints were literally thrown in for good measure. This humble newsprint reminds us that even seemingly disposable objects can offer profound insights into the social and economic conditions of their time. It challenges the perceived hierarchy between art and the ephemera of everyday life.