Modern Idolatry; or Editors and Mods

This hand-colored etching depicts newspaper editors as priests in a mock religious ceremony, kneeling before towering statues of military and political leaders. The print satirizes the press's uncritical veneration of public figures during the Napoleonic era, presenting journalism as idol-worship rather than scrutiny. The composition inverts the viewer's perspective—editors genuflect while their subjects loom god-like on pedestals—to expose the power dynamics between media and authority. The work belongs to the English tradition of political satire established by Hogarth and refined by Gillray and Rowlandson, where caricature and exaggeration serve as visual argument. The etching technique allowed fine detail in facial distortion and architectural ornament, making satire both legible and aesthetically sharp for mass circulation.