Nine Cards with Satires on Papal Infallibility

This engraved broadsheet presents nine sequential scenes mocking Catholic doctrine and papal authority through narrative visual satire. Each panel depicts ecclesiastical figures in moments of hypocrisy, corruption, or absurdity—from confession and deathbed scenes to processions and miraculous claims. The dense cross-hatching and fine line work typical of early 18th-century copper engraving convey both intimate psychological detail and architectural space.

The print belongs to the Protestant satirical tradition of image-sheets that flourished after the Reformation, wherein religious and political opponents were subjected to ridicule through sequential narrative—a direct ancestor of the modern comic strip. Anti-Catholic propaganda prints circulated widely in Northern Europe; this Dutch example uses visual narrative and accompanying text to construct theological argument through mockery rather than reasoned debate, reflecting the confessional tensions of its moment.