Tekstblad bij de prent van het gevecht bij Aschaffenburg, 1674 1674

Printed in Amsterdam by Hugo Allard, this 1674 text sheet accompanies an image of the battle of Aschaffenburg. Allard’s broadsheet is a potent example of the ways in which identity, politics, and commerce were intertwined in the 17th-century Dutch Republic. As a publisher and printmaker, Allard was part of a thriving industry that catered to a public eager for news and visual representations of current events. The text emphasizes the Dutch Republic’s Protestant identity and its ongoing struggle against Catholic powers, particularly France. The detailed descriptions of military maneuvers, casualties, and captured war materials served to fuel patriotic sentiment, while also functioning as a form of propaganda, reinforcing national pride. The artist profits from this sentiment. In its detailed reporting of the battle, Allard’s text caters to a readership eager for news of war, yet it also speaks to the human cost, acknowledging the pain and loss experienced by soldiers on both sides.