From the exhibition
Broadsheet on the Siege of Schenckenschans
· 1636

This Dutch broadsheet combines woodcut illustration with multiple narrative texts in verse, a popular format for distributing political news during the Thirty Years' War. The layout—six distinct text blocks surrounding a central scene—exemplifies the *Newsblatt* tradition that merged reportage with commentary. Such prints reached common readers through street vendors and taverns, shaping public opinion on military campaigns and political figures. The woodblock's bold lines and repetitive composition recall earlier German *Bilderbogen*, while the dense typography served oral reading aloud. This work demonstrates how early modern satire and caricature functioned not as single images but as multimedia texts combining image, verse, and political argument—a direct ancestor to later broadside comics and serialized narrative forms.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/