Featured Collective research: Satirical Print, anomymous, 16th century

A bit more on the time frame, 1570 was two years after Egmond and Horne were 'executed'.
Actually, they were invited over for a nice meal and a talk to work things out, but they were taken captive and murdered. Hence the Dutch feeling at the time of the Spanish being treacherous.

 

Maybe this has a connection: In 1570 the Ottoman forces invaded Cyprus. The Venetian doge asked pope Pius V for help. The pope tried to engage Habsburg Spain to form a great force called the Holy League. In October 1571 the Holy League defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto.

 

Can't really see a connection there. The Ottomans weren't regarded as heretics, since they were never Catholics in the first place.
Heretics were (former) Catholics who adhered to ideas that went against the church doctrine.

 

Maybe in this case Philip II was considered as a heretic because he didn't want to help the pope at first.

 

Yes, Pieter van der Heyden was from Antwerp.

 

Philip a heretic? Go wash your mouth out!
His refusal wasn't on ideological grounds, so I think it unlikely that he was considered a heretic by anyone.

Which was Brabant. Still is, albeit administratively separate from the rest of Brabant.

 

Yes, for our region Antwerpen was the big city in the 16th century instead of the cities in the northern parts. That is one of the reasons I collect old books from Antwerp.

 

I know ... not much ... about this period, but I wonder if the game being Backgammon has any relevance.

 

It must have, in prints like this everything is significant. I found another Dutch 'backgammon print' with a war reference:

"A broadside on the beginning of the First Anglo-Dutch War, likening it to a game of backgammon"

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-3245

 

Good remark. I believe backgammon was called Tric Trac in old Dutch. it was quite common in older paintings and engravings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon#Western_Europe

I am not sure about the symbolism of Tric Trac. Maybe others know.

Backgammon in "The Triumph of Death" (detail), Pieter Brueghel 1562

 

Here a nice collection of works about Backgammon in the Rijksmuseum:

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/123578--wavanmourik/collections/triktrak?ii=19&p=1

 

We still called it triktrak when I was a child. I am old Dutch of course.

 

This Dutch pdf-file is supposed to have info on the meaning of triktrak (backgammon) in Dutch 17th century genre paintings. Different subject but same period. Maybe you can find it, EL.

https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/jong076totl01_01/jong076totl01_01.pdf

 

According to the dutch Backgammon Wiki article backgammon is the symbol of one of the 7 deadly sins: Sloth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_(deadly_sin)

 

The page in the link is the English one?

In the Rijksmuseum link you posted is another political one called "Een Frans tiktakje op Beyersch verkeer-borretje"

 

In this pdf (page 103) triktak (backgammon) is named in combination with this Jan Steen painting:

https://www.boijmans.nl/collectie/kunstwerken/3781/soo-gewonne-soo-verteert

 

Yes I did not want to post too much Dutch links here:

Symboliek
In de beeldende kunst is het triktrakspel het symbool van de luiheid, een van de zeven hoofdzonden. Het komt voornamelijk voor in de Nederlandse kunst van de zestiende en zeventiende eeuw.

Source: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon

 

No one minds. The subject is Dutch games, so ... Dutch source material.

 

As we debunked the link between the print and Admiral Francisco de Mendoza the dating of the Curator of the British Museum also becomes uncertain. That is why I changed the title of the thread.

Curator's comments
This a close copy of a print by Petrus a Merica (Harms II.64; and Paas PA-308) which Harms dates to c.1598 on the basis of the reference in the verse to "Broeder Fransiscus", identified as Admiral Francisco de Mendoza who lead Spanish troops in the southern Netherlands from 1598. For other versions, see BM Satires 81 and 101.



For now I have put the date of the print on 2nd half 16th century (1550-1600). Because there is no signature is on the print everything is possible. What if Pieter van der Heyden made his version (1570) after my version? Not very likely, but possible in my opinion.

 

Ok, so far we have found a lot of information, but for now I think we have raised more questions then we answered them (that is no problem, it happens in research). Let's make a summary of what we have:

We have a copper engraving with nine men playing games (backgammon, cards and dice) on a table. One row of the men are Catholic clergyman (the pope, a cardinal (?) and 3 monks), the other row of men are wearing 16th century noblemen's clothes. Around the playing men there are 4 cartouches with (Southern) Dutch 16th century text about true believe. "Our brother Francis" is mentioned in the text.
The engraving has no signature of the artist.

We have found 4 different versions of the engraving by at least 2 different artist in 2 languages (Dutch and English):

We have found 4 versions:
Without title - anonymous - without dating (British Museum and my version)

The Game against the Monks - Pieter van de Heyden(1570) (Rijksmuseum)
The Revelles of Christdome - Thomas Cockson(~1609) (British Museum)
The Royal Gamesters - anonymous(1626-1629) (British Museum)