«For there is no power but of God»: Diptych of Philip II and Christ (1568) and Habsburg Printed Propaganda

Abstract

This article examines one of the few prints taking up the Spanish Habsburg cause during the early years of the Eighty Years’ War: Diptych of Christ and Philip II (1568), presumably engraved by Johannes Wierix. Because prints were less commonly used by the royalist side to distribute their propaganda in the Low Countries, this engraving offers a singular view into what the medium afforded them. Examined against the backdrop of iconoclasm, the engraving puts forward a multi-faceted argument about the protection of King Philip II and devotional objects as well as the sacralization of the king and the preservation of the Catholic faith.