The Paper King Fleeing Spain's Court

This etched broadside ridicules King Philip V of Spain during the War of Spanish Succession, depicting him as a cowardly figure abandoning his court. The composition combines engraved illustration with dense text—a format typical of 18th-century Dutch and Flemish political prints. The figure's exaggerated posture and theatrical gesture mock his authority through bodily caricature. Such satirical etchings were mass-produced as single sheets for popular consumption, establishing conventions of political mockery that would flow into 19th-century lithography and eventually the sequential art of modern comics. This print exemplifies how printmakers weaponized caricature and allegory to shape public opinion during dynastic conflicts, making satire a form of political discourse accessible beyond the literate elite.