On ne passe pas!! C'est le Budget.— la passe royeuse

This lithograph depicts a confrontation between two figures at a gated entrance: a smaller man in civilian dress gestures urgently while a tall, imposing official in military uniform and tall plumed hat raises his hand in refusal, blocking passage. The French caption plays on wordplay: "One does not pass! It's the Budget—the royal pass." The print satirizes parliamentary resistance to budget proposals, likely during the contentious post-Restoration politics of the Dutch Golden Age. It exemplifies the European tradition of political satire through exaggerated physiognomy and costume—a tradition descended from Hogarth and Gillray, refined by Daumier and practiced across national borders. Such lithographed cartoons, distributed in newspapers and as standalone sheets, directly prefigured comic strips' combination of visual caricature, narrative situation, and textual wit.