De Batavier aan Willem den Geweldenaar (The Batavian and Willem the Violent)

This Dutch etching depicts a confrontation between a peasant and a well-dressed official, likely Prince Willem V, who attempts to seize food from the farmer's table. The print uses the tradition of Northern European satirical engraving—descended from Hogarth and developed through popular broadsheet satire—to criticize government overreach and taxation. The crude, exaggerated features typical of 18th-century class caricature emphasize the contrast between official authority and common folk. The Dutch verses below narrate the social conflict. Such prints circulated widely as cheap, accessible commentary on politics, establishing visual conventions that would eventually influence the comic strip form: sequential narrative, expressive distortion, and sharp social critique through humor and grotesquerie.