Het leven van Klein Duimpje 1850 - 1881

This print titled "Het leven van Klein Duimpje," or "The Life of Little Thumb," was made by D. Noothoven van Goor in the Netherlands. This lithograph visualizes the narrative of Little Thumb, a folk tale character similar to Hansel and Gretel. The story is told across eight panels, each with an illustration and block of descriptive text. Little Thumb, the smallest of seven brothers, uses his wits to save his family from poverty and outsmart a fearsome ogre. These kinds of images would have been mass-produced for popular consumption. The industrialization of printing in the nineteenth century made such affordable prints widely available to a growing reading public. The narrative is framed in the tradition of popular literature. The images are relatively unsophisticated in their style, emphasizing a clear storytelling approach over artistic flourishes. Historians can examine such prints to better understand popular culture in the Netherlands during the period of its production. By looking at the content and style, the dissemination of information, and the role of popular imagery, we can better understand the intersection of social, economic, and artistic trends of this period.