Conclusion

This concluding chapter focuses on the question of circulation and impact: to what extent did De Hooghe’s satires travel beyond The Netherlands in the seventeenth century and what influence did they have on English political satire of the eighteenth century? The appearance of motifs from De Hooghe’s satires in mezzotints of c.1690 and prints on the subject of the South Sea Bubble of 1720 will be discussed as will instances in which De Hooghe’s satires were reissued in the eighteenth century. However, a comparison of this handful of examples with the liberal use of De Hooghe’s triumphal allegories and battle scenes in such distant locations as Latin America and Russia reveals one of the qualities that epitomizes political satire—its dramatic circumscription by temporal and geographical boundaries. Satire’s embeddedness in a specific political, historical, and cultural moment and its dependence upon text that often channels the idiosyncrasies of spoken language, render it difficult—often impossible without intensive investigation—to understand beyond its immediate context. This is as true for twenty-first-century satires as it was for those produced in the late seventeenth century.

The Role of the Satirist and the Problem of Moral Conviction

This chapter addresses two related subjects, the reception of De Hooghe’s satires and the role of the satirist. The focus of this discussion is the so-called Pamphlet War of 1690, the primary vehicle for much of the criticism of De Hooghe’s satires. In twelve scathing pamphlets published against Romeyn de Hooghe in the first several months of 1690, witnesses alleged his blasphemy, atheism, and sexual perversion, and embroiled him in a fevered exchange of pamphlets with representatives of Amsterdam. While such rhetoric employed against the printmaker in pamphlet literature vividly described his manifold immorality, Hollands hollende koe (Holland’s running cow), an anti-Williamite satire produced by the printmaker’s enemies in his distinctive etching style, provided material ‘evidence’ of his lack of integrity. With this print, De Hooghe was accused of working for both sides of the political divide—producing Orangist satires for William III and anti-Williamite satires for the Amsterdam regents. The potency of Hollands hollende koe depends fundamentally upon the assumption of integrity between satirist and satire, the notion that he or she believes in the positions and ideologies espoused in his or her satires. It will be argued that the conflation of satirist and satire and the attendant expectation of moral conviction on the part of the satirist are not only associated with the genre of political satire, they are engendered by it and feature prominently throughout its history.

Text, Image, and the Performance of Satire

This chapter considers the relationship between text and image in De Hooghe’s satires: how it functions and what it tells us about how the satires were produced and who their intended audience/s might have been. De Hooghe’s satires were issued in the form of broadsheets, the typeset text appearing beneath the print in the form of a spoken (or sometimes sung) dialogue accompanied by letters or numbers identifying the figures in the scene. Neither text nor image is effective alone: the viewer is required to cross-reference them repeatedly in order to understand the satire. While the textual component of De Hooghe’s satires may seem to suggest a relationship to newspaper and pamphlet production, their emphatic rejection of narrative in favour of the discursive places them in the realm of dramatic literature and the theatre, genres more readily suitable to conveying the fictive and often whimsical violence of satire. This discussion includes material considerations, among them the format of the satires and how they were produced, and considers the satires in light of other contemporary printed media, among them the pamphlet, the news sheet, and the ballad. The particular relationship between text and image in De Hooghe’s satires and the distinctly performative quality it engenders shed critical light on their audience and function.

Satires on Domestic Subjects

This chapter examines five satires on the subject of domestic politics. Orange-Amsterdam opposition dominated Dutch politics for much of the seventeenth century and the States Party faction, led by the republican-leaning Amsterdam regents, was driven by two primary concerns: the interruption to trade, particularly with France, caused by William III’s invasion of England and subsequent military exploits; and the curbing of William’s dynastic ambition, which was seen as a direct threat to Holland’s supremacy within the United Provinces. All of De Hooghe’s satires under consideration here are Orangist in viewpoint and accuse Amsterdam of colluding with France in order to maintain lucrative trade alliances and marginalize William III politically. The function of De Hooghe’s satires is the primary focus of this discussion and, to this end, the critical role played by factionalism in Dutch politics of this period will be considered. It will be argued that De Hooghe’s domestic satires were intended for a specific segment of Holland’s governing elite, those in the ‘middle party’ who did not align themselves fully with either the States Party or the Orangist ends of the political spectrum. The chapter concludes that pragmatic considerations were a critical impetus for the domestic satires: for Orangists, the fact that William III needed the financial support of Amsterdam for his military campaigns; and, for the Amsterdam regents, as is articulated in an anonymous anti-Williamite satire, the fear of William III’s monarchical ambitions and the opportunity to consolidate their power in the absence of the Stadhouder-King.

Satires on Foreign Subjects

This chapter examines seven of De Hooghe’s eighteen satires on the events surrounding William III’s invasion of England and associated diplomatic and military campaigns. These satires, which were produced between the autumn of 1688 and summer of 1690, followed the events of the Glorious Revolution as they unfolded and represent not only key political-historical events but also the development of De Hooghe’s satirical strategies. William III is featured as the sober and valiant defender of Protestantism against the Catholic kings, James II and Louis XIV, who appear as a darkly comic duo, misguided adherents of a primitive religion committed only to their own aggrandizement. This discussion examines the iconography of the foreign satires, providing detailed interpretive analysis and translation of many of the texts into English for the first time. It will be demonstrated that De Hooghe responded almost immediately to the rapid unfolding of events that constituted the Glorious Revolution, highlighting the need to consider them in terms of the speed with which they were produced and their serial nature. It is often possible to determine the month in which a satire was made and, in certain cases, the timeframe can be narrowed to weeks. This dramatic imbrication in a particular historical moment is characteristic of political satire to this day.

The Roots of Modern Political Satire

This chapter considers the evolution of the political print from 1500 through the mid-seventeenth century. This discussion examines satirical strategies employed by printmakers working at four key historical moments—the Reformation in Germany, the Dutch revolt from Spain, the French wars of religion, and the Commonwealth in England—in order to provide a larger context for the assessment of Romeyn de Hooghe’s innovation of the genre. Two strategies dominate the political prints considered in this chapter: (i) those that employ animal imagery, such as the animal fable and the animal hybrid; and (ii) those that feature individual human protagonists. This chapter introduces three themes that feature prominently throughout the book: (i) the elision of boundaries between man and animal; (ii) the treatment of the satirized body; and (iii) the inter-relationship between text and image. It is shown that the finished, closed, and choreographed body of formal portraiture that dominates earlier political prints gives way in De Hooghe’s satires to the expansive, gaping, and uncontrollable body that has been associated with the genre ever since.

Introduction

The book’s introduction provides an overview of the genre of political satire, a brief biography of Romeyn de Hooghe, and a summary of the contents of the individual chapters. It considers the key characteristics of political satire, among them: its assumption of the forms of other genres, the engagement of the viewer in an unresolved moment, the promise to unveil the ‘truth’ and suggestion of moral correction, and deep imbrication in a specific historical context. A brief review of the existing literature on De Hooghe contextualizes this study and provides the necessary background for understanding the reception of the satires.