Letter A in een omlijsting met een voorstelling van een herder en een figuur met een gevleugelde helm blazend op een bazuin 17th century

This is an anonymous woodcut depicting the letter A, set within a framed scene of a shepherd and a trumpeter. It belongs to a tradition of decorative and illustrative alphabets that enjoyed wide popularity in the early modern period, particularly in the Netherlands and other centers of printmaking. These alphabet prints served not just as artistic novelties, but as tools for education and literacy, bringing together classical and pastoral imagery. In this example, the figures are shown as though inhabiting the world of the letter. Who exactly was the audience for these prints? Were they aimed at the urban middle classes, who had the means to purchase them? Or were they intended to reach a wider public? Understanding the social life of images requires us to look beyond formal qualities, and to engage with the historical context and the institutions that produced and circulated them. Only then can we fully appreciate their meaning and significance.