Alarm in the Boudoir

This Dutch print takes aim at the position of the Sun King, Louis XIV, during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713). The king’s attempts to put a French suc-cessor on the Spanish throne ignited a war with a coalition of the Dutch Republic, Great Britain and Prussia. Here, Sonneman (‘Sun Man’, referring to the king), faints upon hearing of France’s military defeats. His mistresses anxiously crowd around him.