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From the exhibition

Oppositie Speeldoos van de firma G.G. & Co. (Opposition Music Box of the firm G.G. & Co.)

· 1863

Oppositie Speeldoos van de firma G.G. & Co. (Opposition Music Box of the firm G.G. & Co.)
This Dutch political print satirizes the Anti-Revolutionary Party through the image of a mechanical music box. The lid displays seven song titles—from 'Demonsstelling' (Demonstration) to 'Orange-Groen Potpourri' (Orange-Green Medley)—suggesting the party's predictable, repetitive platform. The print descends from the European tradition of political satire established by Gillray and Rowlandson, where mechanical or animalistic imagery mocked political opponents as mindless or programmed. The wood engraving technique, combined with hand-colored typography, was common in 19th-century Dutch Bilderbogen-style broadsides. Such prints circulated widely as popular political commentary, directly prefiguring the illustrated political satire of later comic periodicals and newspapers.

Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/