Politicalsatirehasbeenaprimaryweaponofthepresssincetheeighteenthcenturyandisstillintimatelyassociatedwithoneofthemostimportantvaluesofwesterndemocraticsociety:therightofindividualstofreespeech.Thisstudydocumentsoneofthemostimportantmomentsinthehistoryofprintedpoliticalimagery,whenpoliticalprintbecamewhatwewouldrecogniseasmodernpoliticalsatire.Contrarytoconventionalhistoricalandarthistoricalnarratives,whichplacetheemergenceofpoliticalsatireinthenews-drivencoffee-housecultureofeighteenth-centuryLondon,MeredithM.Halelocatesthebirthofthegenreinthelateseventeenth-centuryNetherlandsinthecontentiouspoliticalmilieusurroundingWilliamIII’sinvasionofEnglandknownasthe’GloriousRevolution’.Thesatiresproducedbetween1688and1690bytheDutchprintmakerRomeyndeHoogheontheeventssurroundingWilliamIII’scampaignsagainstJamesIIandLouisXIVestablishmanyofthequalitiesthatdefinethegenretothisday:thetransgressionofbodilyboundaries;theinterdependenceoftextandimage;thecentralityofdialogictexttothegenerationofmeaning;serializedproduction;andtheemergenceofthesatiristasaprimaryparticipantinpoliticaldiscourse.Thisstudy,thefirstin-depthanalysisofDeHooghe’ssatiressincethenineteenthcentury,considerstheseprintsassitesofculturalinfluenceandnegotiation,worksthatbothreflectedandhelpedtoconstructanewrelationshipbetweenthegovernmentandthegoverned.
