Portret van Daniel O'Connell 1827 - 1847

Johan George Lodewijk Rieke made this print of Daniel O’Connell, the Irish political leader, using lithography. Prints like these were a popular way of disseminating images of important public figures. O’Connell was a fascinating character. As a Catholic in the 19th century, he had to fight for the right to even sit in Parliament. And there he was, a champion of Catholic rights and a key figure in the movement for Irish self-governance within the British system. Rieke’s print is interesting because it was made in the Netherlands, not Ireland or Britain. This suggests O’Connell’s reputation extended beyond the British Isles. The print makes O’Connell look like a respectable and upstanding member of the political class. To really understand the image, we’d need to dig into the archives, looking at Dutch newspapers and political pamphlets from the period. We could ask: how was O’Connell viewed in the Netherlands?