Het Franse en Spaanse doolhof van de hertog van Anjou (The French and Spanish Maze of the Duke of Anjou)

This Dutch woodcut satirizes the Duke of Anjou's political maneuvering during the War of Spanish Succession through a maze—a visual metaphor for confusion and entrapment. Text winds through four interconnected labyrinthine passages, each representing competing claims and diplomatic intrigue between French and Spanish factions. The format exemplifies the Bilderbogen tradition: dense, text-heavy political commentary rendered as popular prints for mass distribution. Rather than caricature, it employs the maze as abstract satire, relying on viewers' knowledge of contemporary court politics. Such prints formed a direct lineage to later editorial cartooning and comic sequencing, establishing how visual wit and narrative complexity could reach ordinary readers through woodblock printing.