Frontispice des Nouvelles Ecclésiastiques

At the end of each year, readers of the clandestine Jansenist weekly Nouvelles ecclésiastiques could purchase a frontispiece illustrating the most important events of the precedent months. In 1760, the frontispiece was concerned with the expulsion of the Jesuits from Portugal which had taken place in 1759. King Joseph I and an impersonation of Justice are shown banishing the Jesuits who flee from the flashes coming out of the royal coat of arms suspended in the clouds by a couple of putti. In the foreground, several books of Jesuit authors are burnt, including the works of Escobar, Sanchez and Molina.

Montalais (pseud.): Frontispice des Nouvelles Ecclésiastiques, etching, Paris 1760; source: Bibliothèque de Port-Royal, Paris, Est. 349.