Hier wordt u, o jeugd! gegeven, / Tetjeroen zijn kluchtig leven 1848 - 1881

Editor: So, this is "Hier wordt u, o jeugd! gegeven, / Tetjeroen zijn kluchtig leven" a lithograph print from between 1848 and 1881, attributed to Lutkie & Cranenburg. It feels almost like an early comic strip, these little scenes... How do you interpret this work, and what stories do you think it might be telling? Curator: It *does* have that graphic narrative feel, doesn’t it? Imagine, if you will, a time before the moving image held us captive! This was a way to see stories unfold, scene by scene. Each little vignette is like a freeze-frame from a play. Note the repetition of the character, "Tetjeroen". Makes me think of Punch and Judy shows or maybe even commedia dell’arte. The humor might seem odd to our modern eyes... Is it poking fun at youthful indiscretions, maybe? What do you make of the title's promise to show "Tetjeroen's amusing life?" Do you find it amusing? Editor: Well, some are kind of amusing, in a dark way, but others, I’m not sure I get the humor. It almost feels like a commentary on different jobs or social roles. Like a cautionary tale… or is it just satire? Curator: Precisely! Satire has a sting. Maybe it *is* a caution: look what happens if you become an apothecary or a judge. Or… look how each of us can be, viewed through different prisms. That playful dog in the last panel, does he find the whole thing absurd? It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? This is why it’s so marvelous to stop, and look, and let a picture speak. It shows its humor slowly. What do you think? Editor: I agree; by looking at this artwork more closely, it sparked a new kind of interest in narrative art and an appreciation for storytelling. Thanks for this interesting story. Curator: Absolutely! There's no richer life than reading—or *seeing*—stories. The old ones are, almost always, the best, especially when you have them broken into tiny fragments such as the different images we’re looking at here. I find I spend days at a time reading them over, as if that somehow brought new context to what has already occurred.