Sylvanus van de Weyer, Minister van de Belgische Zending

This hand-colored etching ridicules Sylvain van de Weyer, Belgian diplomat and politician, as a grotesque figure with exaggerated facial features and an absurdly ornate peacock-feathered hat. He stands before a departing ship, laden with medals and official trappings. The Dutch satire tradition drew on Hogarth and Gillray's mordant caricature, using distorted physiognomy and costume excess to mock political ambition and vanity. The dense verse below amplifies the attack through verbal wit. Such prints circulated widely in early 19th-century Low Countries, shaping public opinion through grotesque caricature—a direct ancestor of the comic strip's use of exaggerated features and satirical narrative. The print exemplifies how caricature functioned as political weaponry before mass-circulation newspapers.