Epiglénie, ou plus anciens bourgeois de Bruxelles

This etching satirizes a civic procession or religious celebration in Brussels, with crowds of citizens gathered below a tall pole or monument. A cherub floats overhead dispensing blessings, while the composition layers multiple scenes—dignitaries, common folk, and architectural views—in the manner of popular print satire. The work descends from the tradition of Hogarth and Gillray: detailed social observation rendered through line engraving to mock public folly, pretension, and ceremony. Inscriptions pepper the composition, guiding viewers to specific targets of ridicule. Such prints circulated widely as affordable, topical commentary, establishing conventions of visual humor—exaggerated figures, crowded composition, mixed registers of high and low—that would later structure the comic strip and sequential narrative forms.