Political Caricature: Maria II and Ferdinand

This hand-colored etching mocks Portuguese royalty through exaggerated physiognomy and theatrical gesture—a scene of courtly absurdity populated by demons, jesters, and grotesquely rendered figures. The seated noblewoman in her voluminous skirts anchors a composition where human dignity dissolves into animal forms and moral chaos.

The work inherits from 18th-century caricature traditions established by Hogarth and refined by Gillray and Rowlandson: political satire deployed through distortion, the grotesque body, and visual invective. By mid-century, artists like Daumier and José Daniel Colaço adapted these printmaking techniques—etching's fine line work, hand coloring's theatrical effect—to attack contemporary regimes. Such images circulated as political propaganda, their exaggeration and dehumanization serving partisan ends. This print reflects the satirical combat of Portuguese liberal politics, where caricature functioned as both popular entertainment and weapon.