Deez' prent is 't geld wel dubbel waard, / Waar Asschepoester van den haard / En in verdrukking van 't gezin, / Toch werd verheven tot vorstin 1856 - 1900

Curator: Here we have an intriguing print made sometime between 1856 and 1900 by Glenisson & Zonen. It's an engraving, and the title, if you can say it, is “Deez' prent is 't geld wel dubbel waard, / Waar Asschepoester van den haard / En in verdrukking van 't gezin, / Toch werd verheven tot vorstin”. Editor: Wow, a comic strip Cinderella! It feels instantly familiar but strangely dreamlike. The colours – almost aggressively yellowed – add this odd off-kilter harmony. Is it supposed to look like old story book pages? Curator: Precisely! Notice how the narrative unfolds in these sequentially arranged panels, a hallmark of narrative art. It’s more than just decoration; each vignette meticulously contributes to a unfolding tale, very common for its time. We might even venture into the realm of genre painting with these everyday scenes of aspiration and social mobility. Editor: You know, it almost vibrates, especially with the characters repeated in different panels, almost stacked into each other and this curious use of space around the figures. You can almost imagine the audience in that time reading from panel to panel for morality lessons! What did they see of themselves, reflected in those frames? Curator: Reflecting society was its chief function, acting as social mirrors to the customs, aspirations, and occasionally the contradictions inherent within it. In visual structure, there’s a beautiful tension between the ordered arrangement and almost casual coloring of individual frames—simple blocks emphasizing compositional geometry over all else, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Absolutely. While on the surface the story tells us that Cinderella, through misfortune and a series of unbelievable and unexpected plot points will ultimately get the glass slipper. This kind of sequential style almost invites us to imagine her dreams between each stage! It captures how fairy tales continue to evolve through different perspectives, changing and recontextualizing over time to each one. What a fantastic little dream.