Pagina met de strooipenning ter gelegenheid van de inhuldiging van Willem IV, 1751 1753

This broadside commemorating the inauguration of Willem IV in 1751 was printed anonymously using woodcut and letterpress techniques. These are decidedly not the materials of the fine arts, but of everyday life. Notice how the printing process itself influences the appearance, from the texture of the paper to the crispness of the ink. The text is laid out in neat rows, with different fonts and sizes used to emphasize certain words and phrases. Woodcut, with its relative ease of production, allowed for images and text to be combined affordably, making propaganda accessible to a wide audience. The use of standardized, reproducible elements allowed for the efficient dissemination of information and imagery. The broadside reflects a society increasingly shaped by mass production and the circulation of commodities, even if the labor involved in its creation was manual. These prints give a voice to local politics and the concerns of ordinary people. Ultimately, this broadside challenges the traditional distinction between high art and craft, demonstrating how materials, making, and context are essential to understanding the full meaning of an artwork.