O Dr. Jayme Cortesão salva a Biblioteca Nacional!

This pen-and-ink caricature by Leal da Câmara depicts Dr. Jayme Cortesão as a dapper gentleman in top hat and coat, frantically rescuing bundles of books from a giant spider's web. The artist employs exaggerated facial features and theatrical gestures typical of early 20th-century Portuguese political satire. The image celebrates Cortesão's efforts to preserve the National Library, rendered through the visual language of European caricature tradition—the sharp line work, architectural framing, and anthropomorphic symbolism descending from Gillray and Daumier. The spider web represents institutional neglect or danger threatening the nation's cultural patrimony. Such pointed editorial illustrations formed a direct precursor to modern comics, merging political commentary with visual wit.