Il Comitato degli Affari Esteri (The Committee of Foreign Affairs)

This Italian etching depicts five figures in exaggerated poses around a central seated man, mocking what appears to be a foreign affairs committee. The artist uses aggressive cross-hatching and expressive line work—hallmarks of etching technique—to ridicule the subjects' incompetence or corruption.

Such prints descend from the tradition of Hogarth and Gillray, deploying caricature as political weaponry. Figures are rendered as buffoons through distorted features and undignified postures. This tradition supplied the visual vocabulary later adopted by comic strips and books, translating political invective into sequential narrative.