Lied over de terechtstelling van vijf mannen te Den Haag wegens sodomie, 1730 1730

This is a song sheet printed in The Hague in 1730 by Cornelis van Zanten, commemorating the execution of five men convicted of sodomy. The woodcut illustrates the brutal punishment inflicted upon those deemed to have violated societal norms. The men were not only burned at the stake, but their bodies were also weighed and then thrown into the sea. What emerges is the profound tension between religious doctrine, legal authority, and individual identity. The lyrics below the image offer a moralizing narrative, one that seeks to both condemn and warn. The men are framed as cautionary tales, their suffering presented as a consequence of their alleged sins. What this artwork does, ultimately, is to make visible the ways in which the state policed not just actions, but also desires, solidifying a rigid boundary between what was considered acceptable and what was deemed perverse.