Power and Corporate Responsibility

1 Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9781003356981-1

More than 350 years ago the Dutch painter Jan Asselijn produced one of his most famous paintings, The Threatened Swan. In this painting a hissing swan defends the eggs in her nest against an approaching and seemingly aggressive dog.

Later owners of the painting added inscriptions by painting labels (in Dutch) directly onto the canvas: the dog was referred to as the enemy of the state, the swan was labelled the pensionary, a reference to the position of principal public servant in the Dutch provinces, and the eggs under threat were labelled Holland. These rather crude additions to the painting – akin to graffiti – give a specific interpretation to the more generic good versus evil symbolism that was ...