This Dutch wood engraving satirizes the unseasonable cold that gripped the Netherlands during summer 1860. Bundled figures in top hats and overcoats huddle outdoors among bare trees, their discomfort evident as one shelters beneath an umbrella while others warm themselves by a brazier. The print belongs to a rich European tradition of political and social satire stretching from Hogarth through Daumier—using exaggeration, crowded composition, and sharply observed human folly to comment on shared public experience. Such satirical prints, distributed as single sheets to a broad audience, pioneered the visual language and sequential narrative strategies that would later define the comic strip and modern comic book.
About this artifact
- Date
- 1860
- Rights
- Public domain — free to view, share, and reuse.
- Restoration
- Digitally restored and hosted by ComicBooks.com · high-resolution version available.
Part of our mission to preserve and restore the public-domain heritage of the medium.