Accession of William and Mary to the Throne of England, April 21, 1689: Celebrations in London, Hamburg, and the Northern Netherlands 1689

Curator: This incredibly detailed print captures a series of celebrations marking William and Mary’s accession to the throne of England in 1689. It's by Romeyn de Hooghe and it's an engraving depicting simultaneous festivities in London, Hamburg, and the Netherlands. Editor: My immediate reaction is… chaos! A wonderfully orchestrated chaos, though. There’s such an overwhelming density of detail, like a snapshot of collective joy rendered through visual pyrotechnics. You can almost hear the cheering, or at least, feel the explosive energy of the moment. Curator: Precisely! The key motif is, without a doubt, the fireworks, the way De Hooghe renders their light against the urban architecture, and I love how the ships look like fiery altars celebrating at sea. It speaks volumes about the symbolic cleansing of the previous regime and the explosive optimism for the new reign. Editor: Absolutely. Fireworks are such a fascinating ephemeral symbol, aren’t they? A brief flash of brilliance representing, in this case, the hope invested in the new monarchs. It’s all so Baroque. Curator: Look closely at the coats of arms interspersed throughout, it emphasizes not only the individual royal power but the unification represented by William and Mary ruling jointly. They visually unify different geographical centers, right? London, Hamburg, and the Netherlands—linked not only by the event but by their common excitement. Editor: They serve as anchors in the swirling celebrations, those emblems of power. It’s interesting how celebratory visual imagery has always borrowed elements from established traditions of power to invest these new ones with legitimacy. Do you see that visual continuity, that symbolic hand-off? Curator: Definitely, and I see echoes of Roman triumphal arches in some of the architectural framing. It's like, how do you portray monumental history in the moment? The answer, De Hooghe suggests, is to create this layered composite brimming with symbol-laden visual odes. Editor: This feels almost like an archeological find: uncovering buried symbols, historical context, all in a moment of fleeting, fiery exultation. Thanks to De Hooghe we can explore it, piece by piece, today. Curator: It's a reminder that celebration itself can be a powerful political act. This print, I feel, is the celebration captured, distilled and handed down.