Kermisprent van de Amsterdamse karrenman voor het jaar 1788 1788

This is a broadside print offering ‘Kermis Wensch’ or carnival wishes to the merchants, citizens and inhabitants of Amsterdam, and it was made anonymously in 1788. Prints such as this one give us a window into the popular culture and social life of the Dutch Republic. The carnival, or ‘kermis’ as it was known in Dutch, was a major event in the social calendar, and prints like this one, combining image and text, were a common form of popular expression. We see a bustling street scene, with a horse-drawn carriage in the foreground, set against an idealized view of Amsterdam. The text below offers a song, celebrating the carnival spirit and invoking blessings upon the city and its inhabitants. It is a cultural artifact that reflects a specific time and place. Historians would look at the symbolism, the language, and the context of the carnival itself to understand the values, beliefs, and social dynamics of 18th-century Amsterdam, using archives and collections to enrich our understanding of the print and the world it inhabited.