Willem Afscheid (Willem's Farewell)

This hand-colored etching satirizes Prince William V's flight from the Netherlands during the Patriot Revolution and French occupation. On a beach, three figures in exaggerated dress and posture gesture toward a departing sailing vessel—a visual pun on abandonment and cowardice. The Dutch caption translates: "Willem sails away quite well! / Drink now a toast, with a Masker-cup." The print exemplifies the Northern European satirical tradition descending from Hogarth and Gillray: crude caricature, political commentary, and theatrical exaggeration rendered through etching. The grotesque proportions, bright hand-coloring, and farcical scene type it as popular street satire, produced cheaply for mass circulation. Such prints—precursors to modern editorial cartoons and comics—weaponized humor against political figures, reaching audiences who could not read broadsheet newspapers.