- Museum number
- 1871,1209.4845
- Title
- Object: De Kuyp aen Duygen, Door 't vervoeren van den Prins Willem van Furstenberg... (The Barrel in pieces; the abduction of Prince Wilhelm von Furstenberg)
- Description
-
A Dutch broadside on the abduction of Prince Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg in Cologne on 16 February 1674, with an etching by Romeyn de Hooghe showing the attack on his coach by night; at the top of the print a banner with an allegorical depiction of Louis XIV's ambitions for political domination shown as a barrel being constructed around a globe; with engraved title, inscriptions, numbering 1-32 (see Comment), letterpress title and text, including legend, in two columns. (n.p.: [1674])
- Production date
- 1674
- Dimensions
-
Height: 245 millimetres (etching)
-
Height: 525 millimetres (printed area)
-
Width: 348 millimetres (etching)
-
Width: 348 millimetres (printed area)
- Curator's comments
- The anti-French text beneath the image begins with a description of the allegory on the banner in which the French and their allies try to build a barrel around the globe (1): (2) Poland, Brandenburg, Cologne, Munster, Sweden and others bring staves to help construct the barrel; Colbert, the chief cooper (3), provides money for future campaigns; Condé and Turenne (4) threaten fire and the sword; Louvois (5) brings 100,000 men; (6) Luxemburg brings money from conquered cities. But work on the barrel does not succeed: (7) conflicts go wrong in the Empire, in Italy, and against Spain in Portugal, and the Swiss are too wise to get involved; Gremonville (8) tries to foment rebellion in Hungary but is foiled by the Turkish advance; Courtin (9) tries in vain in England (10) where the godless behaviour of some ministers [i.e. the signing of the 1670 Treaty of Dover with France] is discovered and court and country are cleaned out; (11) Lauderdale has to be content in Scotland and leaves the scene with Buckingham (12); Arlington (13) stays, washing his hands; the gentlemen of the Cabal rage and stamp their feet ejecting the Roman religion (14). Peace (15) throws down the remaining staves and indicates the arrival of the Duc de Chaulnes (16) to discuss a treaty; the mitred heads (17) crawl, mumbling paternosters they go barefoot to the Carmelite monastery in Cologne, but Peace is no longer there, she has gone to live in London with the Marques del Fresno (18) [i.e. the Spanish ambassador who was acting as intermediary in peace negotiations between Charles II and the United Provinces]. Meanwhile Franz Egon von Fürstenberg, Bishop of Strasburg, described as "the fat red pimple-head", wonders where is his brother (Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg) who had been travelling around crying "Barrel, barrel!". Wilhelm is in Bonn, in the Emperor's territory, with the Marques del Grana. There follows an eye-witness account of how he arrived there [as shown in the main image]: on 16 February after five in the evening, Prince Wilhelm leaves the house of the Countess von Marck, where he goes every day, in the gallant French way, to caress her while her husband is at court; he goes to the monastery of St Pantaleon (19) to take some letters about "barrel work" that he has received that day from France to the Elector [Maximilian Henry of Bavaria]. He is in a carriage with his entourage driving along a lonely road between (20) a vineyard adjacent to (21) a lodge at the back of the Countess's house and the church of St Mauritius (22). They are attacked by seven imperial officers from the old regiment of the Marques del Grana who have been waiting for some days for such an opportunity, together with two horsemen whom they had come upon on the road. The coachman (23) is shot. Prince Wilhelm (24) leaps out of the carriage, but is forced back in at gunpoint with his equerry and secretary; brave Houwitski (25) is shot and dies next day; Wilhelm's steward (26) is wounded in five places; a page (27) is also wounded badly beside the wall. The two horsemen charge Wilhelm's heyducks [Hungarian attendants] and the Swiss (29) who flee to the Countess's house and there discover Messieurs Granmaison and Tonguie about to attack the Countess. The carriage (30) is eventually turned around and taken past the Countess's house, along Marsilstein (31) and through the Hahnen gate (32). German guards allow them to pass through the gate and outside they meet a hundred horsemen and a company of infantry. When the horses can go no further the Prince has to continue to Mülheim [a village north of Cologne] on foot from where he is taken by boat to Deutz, arriving at 10 o'clock. There he is bled unsuccessfully. He writes a letter to the Countess about his house, furniture and servants, another to Abbot Kilmanseck, and another that he does not finish. The next day he is taken to Bonn where he remains. They should hang him in a cage on the tower in the Breul [Münster] where his parrot's tongue could still be heard and at least he would have the pleasure of knowing that he was in his old barrel-making shop: a cage would fit him as well as Bernhardt Knipperdolling [the 16th-century Münster Anabaptist) for they are both Fifth Monarchists. He can sit there until Rothé appears with his great standard, advancing with his sinless troops assisted by Lieutenant General Soomer of Rotterdam. So goes the story of Prince Wilhelm of Furstenberg accompanied by his bosom friend and old military colleague, the Marquis de Blaigny, Burgundian colonel of the light horse. The cooper who thought to disturb the peace has, thanks to God, failed. Let others do penance and ask for mercy while there is still time. They can all see that the barrel is broken.
Fürstenberg was imprisoned for five years in Vienna
Refs:
Landwehr 210
Wolfgang Gilleßen (ed), Krieg der Bilder, exh.cat. Berlin, 1997, B.XI.9 (pp.182-183).
John T. O'Connor, "William Egon von Furstenberg, German Agent in the Service of Louis XIV", French Historical Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Autumn, 1967), pp. 119-145
For other impressions, see BM 1868-8-8-3363 and 1885-11-14-212
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated names
-
Portrait of: Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg
-
Representation of: Jean Baptiste Colbert, Marquess of Seignelay
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Associated with: Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé
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Representation of: Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne
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Representation of: François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois
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Associated with: Jacques Bretel de Grémonville
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Representation of: Honoré Courtin
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Portrait of: John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale
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Portrait of: George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
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Portrait of: Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington
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Representation of: Charles d'Albert d'Ailly, Duc de Chaulnes
-
Associated with: Marques del Fresno
-
Associated with: Franz Egon von Fürstenberg
-
Associated with: Maximilian Heinrich, Archbishop of Cologne
-
Associated with: Bernhard Knipperdolling
-
Associated with: Charles le Genevois, Marquis de Blaigny
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Franco-Dutch War 1672-1678
- Acquisition date
- 1871
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1871,1209.4845
