Spotprent op het behoud van het gezantschap te Rome, 1871 1871

Johan Michaël Schmidt Crans created this print in 1871 to comment on Dutch politics. It engages with the question of whether the Netherlands should maintain an envoy to the Vatican in Rome. The visual codes here are revealing. We see a group of men gathered around a table, on which sits a puppet labeled ‘Papal Rome’. One man seems to be attempting to manipulate the puppet, perhaps suggesting that the Dutch government is being controlled by the Vatican. The title calls this ‘A Toy costing 8000’, a pointed economic critique. This cartoon was made during a period of significant political and social change in Europe, with the rise of nationalism and the decline of the Catholic Church's power. Schmidt Crans's print reflects the anti-Catholic sentiments prevalent in Dutch society at the time. As historians, we can look to sources such as newspapers and political pamphlets from the period to better understand the debates surrounding Dutch-Vatican relations. Art is always contingent on the social and institutional contexts in which it's made, and this print is a perfect example.