The Life of Romeyn de Hooghe 1645-1708

The Life of Romeyn de Hooghe 1645-1708

Prints, Pamphlets, and Politics in the Dutch Golden Age

Romeyn de Hooghe was the most inventive and prolific etcher of the later Dutch Golden Age. The producer of wide-ranging book illustrations, newsprints, allegories, and satire, he is best known as the chief propaganda artist working for stadtholder and king William III. This study, the first book-length biography of de Hooghe, narrates how his reputation became badly tarnished when he was accused of pornography, fraud, larceny, and atheism. Traditionally regarded as a godless rogue, and more recently as an exponent of the Radical Enlightenment, de Hooghe emerges in this study as a successful entrepreneur, a social climber, and an Orangist spin doctor. A study in seventeenth-century political culture and patronage, focusing on spin and slander, this book explores how artists, politicians, and hacks employed literature and the visual arts in political discourse, and tried to capture their readership with satire, mockery, fun, and laughter.
  • The Life of Romeyn de Hooghe1645–1708
  • Contents
  • List of Figures
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note on Usage
  • Genealogical Table 1
  • Genealogical Table 2
  • Abbreviations
  • Introduction
  • 1. Under the Spire of the Zuiderkerk
    • The Zuiderkerk
    • The Gift of God
    • Ancestors
    • The Learned Son
  • 2. Ingenious Inventions and Rich Designs
    • Setting Up
    • News prints
    • Paris and Beyond
    • Book Illustrations
    • Critical Appreciation
    • The Art of Etching
    • Inventions and Designs
    • Wrestlers and Jews
    • Commercial Success
    • Marriage
    • Houses
    • Claims to Gentility
  • 3. Patriotic Prints
    • The Year of Disaster
    • Orangists and Republicans
    • The Elevation of the Prince of Orange
    • The de Witt Brothers Slain
    • French Tyranny
    • Illustrating the War
    • The Gelderland Affair
    • Satire
    • Publishing his Own Work
    • Dedications
    • The Wheel of Fortune
    • Competitors
  • 4. A Wandering Whore and a Talking Dog
    • The Wandering Whore
    • The Talking Dog
    • The Forged Chinese Pictures
    • The Nicked Timepiece and the Lace Jabot
    • The (Not So) Secret Life of Maria Lansman
    • Honour and Shame
    • The Anatomist and the Abbé
    • Novels and Drollery
  • 5. A Fresh Start
    • Romeyn Evicted?
    • Uncle Pieter’s Testament
    • Motives for Moving
    • Before the Consistory
    • Settling Down
    • Moving Up
    • A Drawing Academy and a Stately Mansion
    • A Prestigious Map
    • Client of the Stadtholder
    • A Blueberry Diploma
  • 6. The Prince Abandoned and Regained
    • The Great Turkish War
    • The Luxembourg Affair
    • The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
    • The Glorious Revolution
    • Glorifying the Revolution
  • 7. The Harlequin Prints
    • Lampooning the Sun King
    • Arlequin Déodat
    • The Son of a Miller
    • Riding the Hippogryph
    • Frogs and Toads
    • Hypochondriacs
    • Royal Infidelity
    • Three Kings
    • A Royal Enema
    • Royal Cuckolds
    • Driving Home the Message
  • 8. Lampooning the Regents
    • The Cows, the Herdsman, and the Wolf
    • The Affair of the Magistrates
    • A New Tune: Toads and Barrel-Riders
    • The French Calendar: The Cock and the Donkey
    • Bigwig and the Privilege-Seeker
    • A Stagecoach Chat
    • The French Blue Shin
    • The Cricket that Spoils the Harvest
  • 9. The Pamphlet War
    • A Triplet of Rogues
    • The Quack: Govert Bidloo
    • The Hack: Ericus Walten
    • The Orangist Triumvirate at Work
    • Arch-Cuckold de Hooghe
    • Vilifying Romeyn
    • Scaling Mount Parnassus
    • Arch-Cuckold Shareholder
  • 10. The Memorandum of Rights
    • Legal Action
    • Witnesses
    • Romeyn Interrogated
    • Blasphemy
    • A False Libel
    • Embarrassing Letters
  • 11. Honour Defended
    • The Chief Sheriff Fooled
    • More Pamphlets
    • Bribery Exposed
    • Malice and the Spirit of Quarrelling
    • Romeyn Spins a Conspiracy
    • Walten Sacrificed
    • Tying Up Loose Ends
  • 12. Serving the Stadtholder
    • The Desolate End of Ericus Walten
    • Running a Spy Network
    • Father and Daughter
    • Vassal of Kennemerland
  • 13. Composing most Pompously
    • Intendant of the King’s Buildings
    • Director of the Lingen Quarries
    • Director of the Triumphal Arches
    • Tampering with the Books
    • Oil Paintings
    • Glasses, Cups, and Medals
    • The World’s First Satirical Periodical
    • Self-Portraits
  • 14. Final Years
    • A Masterless Man
    • A Man of Letters
    • An Invisible Church
    • Death and Legacy
  • Appendix: Genealogy of the De Hooghe ­Family
  • Sources
    • Manuscript Sources
    • Published Primary Sources
    • Secondary Sources
  • Index

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