A Luikerwaal? I'll try to explain.

Probably foreigners will need a long time to pronounce the name correctly!

Click on the image of the luikerwaal to hear the pronunciation of 'de Luikerwaal'.

In the beginning magic lanterns were mostly used by scientists, but soon various people realised that it was a good business and  took advantage of it. For instance the 'Luikerwalen', people originating from Wallonia, Belgium (Luik + Wallonië = Luikerwaal). Catching and killing rats had been their main activity, but when the government had prohibited them to carry the dangerous rat-poison throughout the country, they had to find a new source of income. They started travelling all over the country to give magic lantern shows on fairs, pubs, weddings and so on. The magic lantern and accompanying slides they carried on their backs, were built by themselves in most cases.

It is not likely that the misshapen person on this anonymous print from 1720 is representative of the appearance of the luikerwalen. At that time lanternists and also hawkers on the whole were mostly portrayed as a caricature.

(See also: 'The Great Theatre of Folly'.)