Spotprent op Rijklof Michael van Goens

This Dutch etching ridicules a political or military figure through crude caricature—a figure crucified while two men in 18th-century dress mock below. The Latin caption "Ecce Proditor" (Behold the Traitor) frames the image as political invective. The print descends from a rich Northern European tradition of satirical prints: German Reformation broadsides, Hogarth's narrative sequences, and the sharp personal attacks common to Dutch Golden Age printmaking. By the late 1700s, such prints circulated widely, combining visual exaggeration, religious or classical allusions, and scatological humor to attack public figures. The etching technique allowed fine detail and rapid reproduction, making political satire an accessible weapon—a tradition that would evolve directly into comic art and the modern cartoon.