Satirical print Batavian Revolution – 1795

ANTI-ORANGIST SATIRICAL PRINT

“Help help mijn stam valt” [Help, help, my tree is falling], copper engraving made in 1795 by an anonymous artist. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 14.7 × 22.3 cm.

This satirical print depicts the House of Orange during the Batavian Revolution of 1795, when Stadtholder William V fled to England and the Batavian Republic was proclaimed.

On the left, William V sits helplessly on a collapsing orange tree. He cries out desperately: “help help mijn stam valt” [help, help, my tree is falling], a direct allusion to the family tree of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Above, two eagles attempt to prop up the falling Orange tree with red ribbons. On the left is a double-headed imperial eagle (Austria/Habsburg), on the right a single-headed Prussian eagle. Their speech scrolls “ik kan niet” [I cannot] and “mijn vlerke zyn te kort” [my wings are too short] make clear that foreign support is failing: even allied powers are unable to prevent the downfall of William V and his ‘line’. The falling feathers emphasize their impotence and the crumbling of that protection.

On the right, a rooster (probably referring to the revolutionary French troops who entered the Republic in the winter of 1794–1795) drives a dog forward. The rooster calls out “voort dogge” [forward, dog]; the dog replies resignedly, “ik ga al” [I am going already]. The dog most likely refers to England, the destination and ally of the fleeing stadtholder.

In the distance stands a liberty tree crowned with a liberty cap, illuminated by a sun bearing the word “VRYHEID” [freedom]. Around the tree a group of citizens dance. The liberty tree was the quintessential revolutionary symbol of the Batavian upheaval and here marks the rise of the new republican order.

Price: Euro 225,-