Bețiv (The Drunkard)

Constantin Jiquidi's pen-and-ink sketch depicts a disheveled man in tattered coat and cap, posed unsteadily on a brick pavement. The economy of line and caricatural exaggeration—the gaunt features, gaping mouth, gesturing hands—descends directly from 19th-century print satire traditions established by Hogarth, Rowlandson, and Daumier. This work addresses alcoholism and social decay through bodily caricature, a common subject in Romanian and European graphic culture. Such satirical prints, distributed widely and affordably, preceded and shaped the visual language of modern comics—combining sharp social observation with grotesque distortion to make complex social problems instantly legible to popular audiences.