Dit prenttafreel vertoont, ô jeugd! om u te leeren / Veel vogels, naar hun aart, te kennen aan hun veêren 1715 - 1813

This print, made by the heirs of widow Cornelis Stichter, aims to teach youth about birds through their feathers. Made in Amsterdam, it is a visual primer, part of a broader 18th-century movement towards accessible education. The print reduces the natural world to a series of types, reflecting the Linnaean impulse to classify and order all living things. Birds are neatly arranged in boxes as if they were specimens in a cabinet of curiosities or items in an early museum collection. However, it wasn't just about education. The widow Stichter was a bookseller in the 'Nieuw Amsterdamse Keizerskroniek,' an area known for religious dissent, suggesting the print may have also served to spread ideas in a subtle, accessible manner. The historian can look to period directories, religious pamphlets, and educational treatises to fully understand the print's place in the social and institutional landscape of the time. It serves as a reminder that art and knowledge are always products of specific times and places.