Double heads of protagonists in the Year of Disasters

Double heads of protagonists in the Year of Disasters

RP-P-OB-77.048

inscription: ‘Die Leeuw is, dwingt door kracht niet door klank van Lowiesen / De Leely kreeg het schelms, en sal 't ook schelms verliesen.’

In 1672, known as the ‘Year of Disasters’, the Dutch Republic came under simultaneous attack by France, England and Germany. The double heads depict the protagonists, whose true nature is revealed when they are turned upside down. From left to right, they are: Stadtholder William III as Mars, Louis XIV as a lion, the English King Charles II as a tiger, Archbishop Henry of Bavaria as an ass and the Bishop of Munster as a swine. Johan and Cornelis de Witt are a fox and a wolf. Many believed they were to blame for the war.

Atlas van Stolk 2486

print maker: attributed to Romeyn de Hooghe, Northern Netherlands

1672

ets en gravure

height 140 mm x width 117 mm

purchase 1881

Public domain

• Atlas van Stolk 2486
• FMH 2327
• Frederik Muller, De Nederlandsche geschiedenis in platen : beredeneerde beschrijving van Nederlandsche historieplaten, zinneprenten en historische kaarten, 4 delen, F. Muller, Amsterdam 1863-1882, dl. I (jaren 100 tot 1702), p. 351, nr. 2327.

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200413072