18e Tribulation (Eighteenth Trial)

This etching depicts a man stripped to his underclothes, arms raised in theatrical distress, while onlookers peer from behind a counter stacked with linens and a top hat. A figure in formal dress restrains him; a child plays beneath. The French caption reads "Blessed pig! You're moving!!" and "See how much you're worth at the pawnbroker's."

The print belongs to a numbered series of satirical trials, employing the exaggerated physical comedy and urban social commentary characteristic of early 19th-century French caricature. This tradition—descending from Hogarth and Gillray through Daumier's contemporaneous work—used etched line, sharp observation of character, and crude humor to mock poverty, pretension, and human folly. Such prints circulated widely among literate urban audiences, establishing visual conventions later adopted by comic strips and graphic narratives.