Flight of James II to France

This Dutch etching mocks King James II's escape to France following the Glorious Revolution. The composition, rendered in fine engraved lines, shows allegorical and historical figures in a crowded urban square—soldiers, cherubs, and common folk amid tumbling chaos. James appears as a target of ridicule, his flight portrayed as cowardly abandonment.

The print belongs to a robust Northern European tradition of political satire inherited from earlier Reformation broadsheets and developed by printmakers across the 17th century. Such etchings circulated widely, combining moral allegory with topical commentary. They prefigured the graphic journalism and narrative caricature of Hogarth, Gillray, and later comic traditions, using exaggerated figures and visual puns to shape public opinion and shame political opponents. The Dutch, as Protestant rivals to Catholic France, had particular interest in James's downfall.