VERKLAARING. (Explanation.)

Date1780

MediumBlack and white line engraving

DimensionsOH: 10 1/8" x OW: 12"; Plate H: 7 1/4" x W: 11 3/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-91

DescriptionThis satire, whose title is the Dutch word for explanation, depicts Holland's reaction to George III, Lord North, and Oliver Cromwell, the English leaders whose policies contributed to difficult relations between the two countries. The references are explained as follows: (1) Seated on his throne, George III is being undressed by two young men whose feathered caps identify them as Americans. He calls for help from North (2), who, riding on an old nag, seems unlikely to reach the king in time to aid him. (3) On a pedestal inscribed "Uytvinder van Heersch en baatzugt" (inventor of ambition and covetness) is a bust of Oliver Cromwell. Three English admirers kneel before it oblivious to justice emerging from the clouds holding in one hand thunderbolts with which to strike them down. Cromwell was held responsible for the navigation acts in the mid-seventeenth century that first curtailed free trade in England and became to the Dutch a symbol for any threat to commerce. Ironically, however, the figure wears sixteenth-century Tudor cap suggesting that the bust is of Thomas Cromwell, a religious leader, and not of Oliver. By this touch the satirist suggest that the English would bow to anyone with the name Cromwell.
ProvenanceEx coll: H. Dunscombe Colt. Other known copies: Halsey collection at Brown; New York Historical Society.