Nine Cards with Satires on Papal Infallibility

This engraved sheet presents nine playing-card sized scenes attacking Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility through sequential narrative—a precursor to the comic strip. Each panel combines image and Dutch text to mock religious authority, depicting priests, nuns, and ecclesiastical figures in scenes of hypocrisy and corruption. The medium—copper engraving with suit symbols marking each card—allowed cheap mass production and circulation as propaganda during religious conflicts of the early 18th century. This format descends from Northern European picture-sheet satire and prefigures the Bilderbogen tradition and modern comics: sequential panels, text-image integration, and popular accessibility. Anti-Catholic polemic was common in Protestant regions; these images reflect period sectarian animosity alongside emerging visual narrative conventions.