ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

Text Sheet for a Political Satire on Dumouriez

· 1793

Text Sheet for a Political Satire on Dumouriez
This printed text sheet comprises four numbered satirical verses targeting General Dumouriez, a French revolutionary general whose defection to the Austrians in 1793 shocked the Dutch Republic. The verses mock his betrayal, his flight across Holland, and his alliance with monarchist powers—themes central to Dutch political anxiety during the French Revolutionary Wars. Published as an accompaniment to a larger print, these texts exemplify the broadside tradition of political satire. Like the caricature prints of Gillray and Rowlandson in England, Dutch printmakers used verse and image to anatomize public figures and events for a literate, engaged audience. The typographic design and vernacular Dutch verse place this squarely in the popular print culture from which modern cartooning descended.

Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/