Beschrijving
Catchpenny print. Children’s print presenting twelve moments in the life of Genoveva, married to earl Siegfried. When falsely accused of infidelity she was sent away to live in the forest. She remained virtuous and pious and was rewarded by God, who brought her husband back to her. The story of Genoveva was mostly printed in the form of books, such as ‘de Historie van Genoveva, huisvrouw van Siegfried’. The woodblocks used for the current print were probably originally also used to illustrate books. These images have a clear popular character as is visible from the style of the figures, which are strongly reminiscent of theatre puppets.Rotterdam, J. B. Ulrich (1816 – 1849); via D. Lysen, Amsterdam, mentioned on the print: ‘Te Amsterdam, By D. Lysen’; numbered ‘no 22.’ in the bottom right corner.Ulrich’s series of children’s prints was advertised in Nieuwsblad voor den Boekhandel on December 7 1836: “Een geheel nieuw soort van kinderprenten. Op schrijfpapier best gekleurd ƒ7,00; dito zwart ƒ5,00; op ordinair papier, gekleurd ƒ 3,20; dito zwart ƒ 3,00. 25 Riem gelijk nemende één tot premie. Deze Prenten laten zich door de aardige rijmpjes, benevens de goede spelling, bijzonder boven alle andere soorten van dien aard, voor de Kinderen aanbevelen, dewijl de Schoolmeesters gerust deze op hunne Scholen kunnen gebruiken.”
