The Cholic

A woman in a pink gown writhes on a yellow sofa, mouth agape in agony, while a swarm of small black demons claw at her torso, yank a rope coiled around her abdomen, and torment her limbs. The hand-coloured etching—fine cross-hatched line work typical of Cruikshank's early commercial output—visualizes intestinal colic as literal diabolical assault, a conceit rooted in pre-scientific popular medicine. The figure's contorted grimace employs the exaggerated physiognomy standard to Regency satirical print; her dress and domestic setting mark her as middle-class. Cruikshank's career bridges the Gillray generation and the illustrated periodical age: the sequential demon-figures crowding the composition anticipate the panel logic that would migrate from London print shops through the German Bilderbogen sheets directly into the comic strip.