Allegory on the Role of the Pope in the Guelders-Cleves Question, 1615

Political allegory on the role of the Pope and the Catholic Church in the Jülich-Cleves Succession Crisis, 1615. Centrally, a shouting Pope holding a sword covered with laurel leaves. By lifting the flap (Covered Holiness) of his garment, murder and executions become visible. The Pope and his army led by the devil hold the towns of Wesel and Aachen in check with chains and block the Rhine, preventing the passage of the ship with 'sLands Welvaren. At the feet of the Pope, Spanish soldiers represented as pigs. On the right, Spinola is forging new armies but producing only monkeys. On the left, Mars with his troops ready for war. In the four-column Dutch inscription, the legends A-P and 1-5.