Skip to Content
Today Open today 10–11 members | 11–8 public

Allegory on the Defeat of the Duke of Alva at Brielle

A work made of engraving in black on ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of engraving in black on ivory laid paper.

Date:

1580

Artist:

Artist unknown
Northern or Southern Netherlands, late 16th century

About this artwork

Political broadsheets invoked news and religious polemics. This satirical engraving represents the April 1, 1572, dispatching of the ferocious Duke of Alva and his troops from Brielle, a small Dutch village—a major turning point in the Netherlands’s conflict with Spain. The Dutch and German word for glasses (Brille) is phonetically close to the town’s name. The bespectacled geese represent its saviors, a group of Calvinist Dutch nobles who used guerrilla tactics. They burn a monstrance, chalice, and crucifix on the left, and rout the foxes—often associated with the evils of the Catholic Church during the Reformation—in the background.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Unknown artist

Title

Allegory on the Defeat of the Duke of Alva at Brielle

Place

Flanders (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1580

Medium

Engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 18 × 27.7 cm (7 1/8 × 10 15/16 in.); Sheet: 19.6 × 29.3 cm (7 3/4 × 11 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

William McCallin McKee Memorial Endowment

Reference Number

1944.584

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/51395/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share