De Afgaande Pedagoog (The Departing Pedagogue)

This hand-colored etching depicts the expulsion of the Duke of Brunswick from the Netherlands during the Patriot Revolution. The composition shows a formal outdoor gathering—soldiers and civilians witness the duke's departure on horseback, while figures in the foreground gesture dismissively. The print exemplifies the Dutch satirical tradition of political commentary through public spectacle. As propaganda, it celebrates popular resistance to aristocratic authority through visual mockery. The etching's technique—fine linear hatching and selective hand coloring—was standard for political prints of this era. Such works descended directly from Hogarth and Gillray's methods, establishing visual satire as a tool for mass political engagement that would influence comic journalism and eventually sequential art.