6e Tribtulation (Sixth Tribulation)

This steel engraving depicts military recruits undergoing brutal hazing rituals, a common subject in European satirical prints of the early 19th century. The composition shows uniformed soldiers subjecting a naked, kneeling recruit to humiliation while officers oversee the scene, a country chapel visible in the distance. The print belongs to the tradition of social satire inherited from Gillray and Rowlandson, targeting institutional cruelty and military abuse through graphic caricature. The crude rendering of the victim's body reflects contemporary attitudes toward class and bodily difference. Such prints circulated widely in the Bilderbogen tradition, combining visual mockery with social commentary to expose institutional violence—a lineage that would evolve into the narrative and political functions of later comic art.