Lampooning the Sun King

Romeyn established his name as a satirist during the 1688–1689 campaign, but his earliest satirical prints date from the Guerre de Hollande. Having produced a spate of satires in 1674, though, Romeyn's interest in the genre seems to have waned. The satires of 1688 and 1689 were part of William's propaganda drive, but it is hard to tell whether he or anybody near him actually commissioned them. In contrast to the news prints and allegories discussed in the previous chapter, which were strictly limited to the invasion and revolution in England, these covered the entire European context. They especially targeted the Sun King, turning his colossal vanity into a weapon against him. Among other lampoons, Romeyn produced a coherent group of nine satirical prints, in which he ridiculed Louis and James and their families in an unprecedented manner.

Romeyn did not conceive and execute these satires in one go, or as a proper (numbered) series, planned in advance; they came into being from time to time as the political events unfolded. The sheets can be dated roughly according to the events depicted, but their precise order remains uncertain. Despite the sporadic origins of the prints, the series forms a consistent unity. The sheets all have the same format, design, and layout (fig. 7.1). They are broadsheets, in vertical orientation, with the etching at the top, including an engraved title in French, and an explanation in verse printed in letterpress below. The texts are in Dutch, but some include a translation in French or English. Most prints are anonymous; two are signed with the fake name ‘Gisling in Geneva’. One print (chronologically the last one, and possibly by a different hand) is signed, also falsely, Hazard de bon avonture fec. et exc. The addition exc[udit] indicates that the maker of the print also acted as its publisher. Romeyn was probably also the author of the explanatory verses, but we cannot be sure this was so.

All of the sheets address the international political situation of 1688 and 1689: the birth of an heir to the British king in June 1688, William iii's invasion of England and the Glorious Revolution; the contested succession in the archbishopric-electorate of Cologne; and Louis xiv's invasion of the Rhineland.