The French Fury at Antwerp, 1583

This tinted lithograph, produced in the mid-nineteenth century after a composition by the Dutch printmaker **Jan Luyken** for an educational history series, depicts the "**French Fury**" of **17 January 1583**: the French soldiers of the Duke of Anjou, having entered Antwerp by a ruse, were trapped inside and driven back by the inhabitants near the Kipdorp gate, while the duke, shown on horseback at the centre of the composition, attempted to escape the disaster. This scene of plunder and street fighting illustrates the resounding failure of François-Hercule of Anjou's attempted coup, by which he had hoped to establish himself as the true sovereign of the insurgent Netherlands. The episode, which cost the lives of roughly fifteen hundred French soldiers, left a lasting mark on Flemish popular memory, as shown by the revival of this composition nearly three centuries after the events.