This is the first book-length biography of Romeyn de Hooghe, the most inventive and prolific etcher of the later Dutch Golden Age. The study narrates how his reputation became badly tarnished when he was accused of pornography, fraud, larceny, and atheism.

"Van Nierop’s book is a rare treat: an exhaustively researched biography that nonetheless remains a gripping and lively tale." - Maureen Warren, HNA Review of Books 2022

"In Henk van Nierop’s expert hands, this book leaves few questions about Romeyn de Hooghe unanswered." - Wim Klooster, Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies 2021

"Van Nierop's study is well written and manages to captivate the reader from start to finish [...] His biography of the extraordinary artist is therefore a must-read for scholars interested in the early modern Low Countries and the history of prints and printmaking and is, at the same time, highly recommended to all interested in the history of early modern Europe." - Karen Hollewand, English Historical Review 2020

"It has turned out to be a great tour de force to put De Hooghe's oeuvre, as well as his eventful life in one book, but Van Nierop has succeeded with great enthusiasm." - Anne-Laure Van Bruaene, BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review 2020. Originally published in Dutch.

"Henk van Nierop has done the fields of early modern European history and art history a singular service in producing such a thorough and compelling portrait of one of the era’s most notable cultural figures." - Christine Kooi, CAA Reviews 2019

"Van Nierop's study, however, is the first comprehensive examination of De Hooghe's life. It is a substantial history that is also eminently readable [...] for a life as complex and contradictory as that of Romeyn de Hooghe, one could find no better guide than Van Nierop, a major scholar in the field of seventeenth-century Dutch studies for over thirty years." - Merdith Hale, Early Modern Low Countries 2019

"There can be no doubt that the comprehensive study Van Nierop has now produced will establish itself as the standard modern account of De Hooghe [...] The reader can only marvel at Van Nierop’s achievement in this remarkable book." - Christopher Brown, The Burlington Magazine, 2019

"This is a truly outstanding and in every way excellent contribution to the history of the Golden Age. The author has succeeded in setting out a clear, detailed and convincing, well-supported account of the sometimes seemingly baffling shifts and swerves in De Hooghe’s career, fortunes, reputation, and political stance." - Jonathan Israel, Professor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

"This book offers a fascinating portrait of the etcher, pamphleteer, pornographer, provocateur, freethinker, spy, author, entrepreneur,husband, and father Romeyn de Hooghe. It is also remarkably relevant in this age of international political machinations, propaganda, and the distortion and concealment of information by spin doctors and the media." - Huigen Leeflang, Curator of Prints, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

"5 stars - Spin-doctoring and self-promotion: making the most of yourself in the Dutch Golden Age"
"The above is an abridged title. A fuller, though still incomplete, title, which should make it clear how impossible it is to do justice to this formidable book in a review, would read: Printmaking, allegory, satire, the cartoon; history, learning, legal scholarship, antiquarianism, journalism, heraldry; politics, patronage, sycophancy; artistry, technical innovation; spin-doctoring, propoganda, fake news; pamphleteering, publishing, entrepreneurship; careerism, self-fashioning, self-promotion, social climbing; depravity, lechery, incest, pimping, pornography; libertinism, blasphemy, heresy, atheism, spinozism; corruption, skulduggery, fraud, double-dealing, embezzlement, mendacity; scandal, libel, intrigue, treason, spying and just plain finagling in the Dutch Golden Age [...] Anyone interested in any of the characteristics embodied by Romeyn de Hooghe will find a lot to enjoy and learn from in this book." - Gary Schwartz

Henk van Nierop is Professor Emeritus of Early Modern History at the University of Amsterdam. He has widely published on the Dutch Revolt and the Dutch Golden Age. He is the author of The Nobility of Holland: From Knights to Regents, 1500-1650 (1993) and Treason in the Northern Quarter: War, Terror, and the Rule of Law in the Dutch Revolt (2009).