De Rijsselse Tuimelaar (The Tumbler of Ryssel)

This Dutch etching satirizes political upheaval in Lille (Ryssel) during the War of Spanish Succession. The composition combines a contorted human figure—whose twisted body forms the map itself—with text-laden margins, an engraved scene of civic discord, and cartographic insets. The grotesque body-as-territory was a common device in early-modern political prints, merging anatomy with geography to mock state instability. The format—dense letterpress surrounding a central image—derives from the German Bilderbogen tradition and anticipates the narrative layouts of later satirical sequences. These prints documented real political conflict and established visual conventions that would shape comic satire and sequential art for centuries.