Het Ver Koopen van de Aristocratische Achtbaarheid (The Sale of Aristocratic Respectability)

This Dutch hand-colored etching mocks aristocratic pretension during the radical Batavian Republic. A charlatan auctioneer hawks bundles of wigs—symbols of Old Regime authority—to a motley crowd of buyers representing different social ranks. The composition inherits from 18th-century print satire traditions established by Hogarth and Gillray: sharp social observation rendered through caricature, exaggerated dress, and symbolic objects. The print targets both the vanity of those clinging to noble status and the gullibility of those purchasing false respectability. Its crude wood-engraving technique and popular Dutch subject matter place it within the Bilderbogen tradition—satirical broadsheets distributed to wide audiences. The anarchic scene reflects Revolutionary-era anxieties about class mobility and authentic merit.