Amsterdam in a dam’d predicament, – or – The Last Scene of the Republican Pantomime, James Gillray, 1787

Amsterdam in a dam’d predicament, – or – The Last Scene of the Republican Pantomime, James Gillray, 1787

etching, h 330mm × w 445mm More details

In this scene by the famous English caricaturist James Gillray, William V’s restoration as stadtholder after the Prussian invasion has become a bloody stage play. The British watch these foolish Continental antics with their usual amused aloofness. The stadtholder unleashes a bloodbath among the Patriots – once more portrayed as frogs – whilst in the background Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia allows them to kiss her bottom.