Hans Liefrinck (1518-1573): The Monstrous Calf, c. 1550
Hand coloured woodcut, 27,7 x 39,3 cm
Museum Plantin-Moretus/Print room

The birth of a calf with a disfigured head, somewhere in Germany, was an excellent news story to make a woodcut out of, and distribute on a large scale. Liefrinck, who was a “figure cutter”, printer, publisher and print merchant in Antwerp, even used stencils to colour this print by hand. This suggests a high edition number, and was therefore a profitable business.