Les monarches tombants

British Museum collection database, [via www, Oct. 21 2009]: registration no. 1868,00808.3383
Folger bibliographic ID: 255500
Landwehr, J. Romeyn de Hooghe the etcher: p. 220
Folger call number: Use item's call number to search Digital Image Collection (direct link to come)
Folger holdings ID: 336762

On right, a Dutchman wearing a fur hat with a clyster labeled "1674" administers an enema to Louis XIV who is seated on a globe with Ireland at the top; he wears a turban decorated with the sun, holds a burning brand lettered "Heidelberg", and evacuates towns which he had previously captured and was later forced to relinquish. Louis turns toward an Englishman who tells him of William III's success. On the left, James II, Maria of Modena, and the Prince of Wales are about to fall from a bucking unicorn; James is dressed in armour, but is blindfolded and has ass's ears. The unicorn tramples on the decrees of the Council of Trent and with its horn attacks owls dressed as monks and a snake with a Jesuit cap who flee among scattered Catholic paraphernalia; it defecates on a monk lying on the ground while other monks and Catholic clergy run away carrying banners referring to the Gunpowder Plot and to royal assassins. In the center background, William III is held aloft on a shield by a group of Englishmen. At top left, Heidelberg is in flames; on right, Englishmen on horseback greet William at the gate of a town; in center, distant figures possibly representing Africans and Turks.--Adapted from British Museum

General notes

Three columns of satirical Dutch verse in letterpress beneath image Not in Hollstein

Extended title: Les monarches tombants [Romeyn de Hooghe]

Unicorns Great Britain James II, King of England, 1633-1701 Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715 Mary, of Modena, Queen, consort of James II, King of England, 1658-1718 James, Prince of Wales, 1688-1766

printmaker: Hooghe, Romeyn de, 1645-1708
depiction: James II, King of England, 1633-1701
depiction: Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715
depiction: Mary, of Modena, Queen, consort of James II, King of England, 1658-1718
depiction: James, Prince of Wales, 1688-1766