Spotprent met de klerikale partijen als beeldenstormers, 1885 1885

Johan Michaël Schmidt Crans's 1885 satirical cartoon "Spotprent met de klerikale partijen als beeldenstormers" depicts a group of men, presumably representing the clerical parties, destroying a statue of a classical figure, representing the "higher education" being criticized in the artwork. The scene satirizes the Dutch political debate surrounding the role of religion in education, with the clerical parties portrayed as blind and destructive forces against classical knowledge and scholarship. The title translates to "Caricature with the clerical parties as iconoclasts," playing on the historical events of the Protestant Reformation and the destruction of Catholic religious imagery. This satirical work offers a snapshot of the Dutch political landscape and the complex relationship between religion and education in the late 19th century.