A Gaze at the New Ministry of Colonies

This Dutch wood engraving satirizes the new Ministry of Colonies through a gaunt, top-hatted official standing amid barren saplings before a grand institutional building. The caption reads: "I have not yet seen these eyes, but fear and dread linger within." The print attacks colonial administration through caricature of the minister's hollow appearance and the withered landscape. The work exemplifies mid-nineteenth-century European satirical print tradition, descended from Gillray and Rowlandson, which used physiognomic exaggeration and allegorical settings to mock political figures and policies. Such wood engravings circulated widely as political commentary and entertainment, establishing visual strategies later adopted by illustrated magazines and eventually comic narratives.