Brakende monnik (Vomiting Monk)

This copper engraving depicts a corpulent monk in profile, retching violently—a crude attack on clerical excess and hypocrisy. The figure's distended belly and vomiting posture mock monastic claims of asceticism and self-denial. The print belongs to a robust Northern European tradition of satirical religious imagery, particularly popular during the Reformation and its aftermath, when Protestant and secular critics weaponized scatological humor against Catholic clergy.

The sharp, detailed line-work of copper engraving allows for biting physiognomic caricature—exaggerated features that reduce the subject to moral failing. This technique and tradition directly preceded the 18th-century masters Hogarth, Gillray, and Rowlandson, and established the visual language of political and social satire that would evolve into modern cartooning.