Het Huishouden van Willem Kaaskoper

This Dutch wood engraving satirizes the domestic life of King Willem I following his remarriage to Countess d'Oultremont. Six scenes depict the household in comic decline: a wrecked ship labeled "Wilhelmina," marital discord, poverty and despair, public scandal, and an impoverished retirement. The title plays on the king's name with "Kaaskoper"—literally "cheese buyer"—reducing royal dignity to petty domesticity. Working in the tradition of Hogarth's narrative sequences and German Bilderbogen picture-sheets, the print uses crowded compositions and expressive line work to construct a moral tale of fallen status. The work reflects contemporary Dutch resentment toward Willem's unpopular second marriage, treating the king's private life as public spectacle subject to popular judgment and ridicule.