Uitgave van D.A Thieme en Mariinus Nijhoff: The Herds of N—

This Dutch lithographic satire mocks Prime Minister Johan Thorbecke's cattle plague response. At left, Thorbecke stands aloof, arms folded, while desperate officials and farmers struggle to contain infected herds with barrels and ropes—a chaotic, ineffectual scene. The print exemplifies 19th-century political caricature's tradition of ridiculing state incompetence through exaggerated gesture and physical comedy. Published by Thieme and Nijhoff, it descends from Gillray and Daumier's graphic polemics, using caricature's grotesque distortion to shape public opinion during an agricultural crisis. Such prints circulated widely, establishing visual satire as essential political discourse before the modern comic strip.