Beschrijving van de gevangenhouding van de prinses in Goejanverwellesluis, 1787 1787 - 1790

This is a printed description of the detainment of Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia in Goejanverwellesluis in 1787. The text describes the indignities suffered by the Princess, focusing on her isolation and mistreatment by revolutionaries, and serves as a potent symbol of violated authority and virtue. Note the recurring motif of the exposed sword wielded by the guards both inside and outside the Princess’s chamber. This recalls similar imagery across time, such as the sword-bearing figures in Renaissance allegories of Justice, but here it is inverted. Justice, typically a symbol of order and protection, is here perverted into an instrument of oppression, highlighting the revolutionaries' descent into tyranny. The act of offering the Princess drinks, described with shame, also presents a distorted offering, akin to ancient rituals where offerings to deities were a sign of respect, now twisted into humiliation. This episode, fraught with emotional intensity, shows the cyclical nature of power and the perversion of symbols, reminding us that history is a relentless replaying of primal urges, cloaked in new forms.