De Haan Gekortwiekt (The Rooster's Wings Clipped)

This hand-colored etching depicts three Dutch figures attacking a French rooster with swords and firearms, its wings spread in distress. Yellow ribbons carry Dutch text, likely mocking French revolutionary claims. The print belongs to the Northern European tradition of political satire—descended from Hogarth and Gillray—where national identity was embodied in animal symbols. Created during the French Revolutionary Wars, when the Netherlands faced French invasion and occupation, the image uses crude caricature and violent slapstick to rally public sentiment against French aggression. Such prints circulated widely as affordable mass media, establishing visual conventions later adopted by comic sheets and sequential imagery.