De Janustempel wordt door de paus gesloten

This Dutch engraving depicts Pope Clement XI closing the Temple of Janus, a classical Roman structure symbolizing war and peace. Allegorical figures and cherubs populate a crowded palace scene, while text blocks below explain the religious and political allegory in Dutch. The print exemplifies early 18th-century Netherlandish satirical engraving, combining classical imagery with contemporary ecclesiastical commentary. Such works preceded modern comics by employing sequential narrative, allegorical figures, and dense explanatory text—techniques inherited from the Reformation broadsheet tradition. This print belongs to a lineage connecting Renaissance emblem books, Hogarth's moral sequences, and eventually the comic strip's visual storytelling.