A Rude French Light-Sprong at Rijssel

This Dutch engraved broadside mocks French military failure during the War of Spanish Succession. A French horseman, comically dressed and mounted, is thrown backward as his horse bucks; his opponent—representing allied forces—thrusts a lance at him. Below, two narrative panels show the broader context: French troops in disarray and the siege works around Rijssel (Lille). The print combines sequential visual storytelling—a tradition linking 16th-century printed satires through Hogarth's narrative sequences to later broadsheet comics. Such prints distributed political commentary to literate and semi-literate publics, establishing the visual language from which modern caricature, political cartooning, and comic narrative descend.