De zelfopoffering van predikant Hambroeck op Formosa, 1661 1776

Simon Fokke made this print in 1776, commemorating Antonius Hambroeck's death in Formosa, now Taiwan. It is etched with ink on paper. This image presents a heroic interpretation of Hambroeck’s death. Hambroeck was a minister of the Dutch East India Company, who was killed during the Siege of Fort Zeelandia. The print valorizes Hambroeck’s death as a Christian sacrifice. The scene is framed by images of battle, but Hambroeck is shown in a domestic interior, with his family. In the central scene, he kneels to be captured. The Dutch East India Company was a powerful economic institution that used imagery to maintain a heroic image of its project. This print tells us something about the social role of religious virtue in the construction of Dutch national identity. To learn more, we could study the archives of the Dutch East India Company, and resources relating to the history of Dutch missionaries.