Hoo-Loo-Chuoo

John Doyle's colored lithograph depicts John Bull—embodiment of Britain—as a corpulent Chinese laborer surrounded by surgeons debating the removal of his tumor. Speech balloons record their conflicting diagnoses and proposed treatments, satirizing parliamentary gridlock over parliamentary reform. Doyle inherited the tradition of Gillray and Rowlandson, using exaggeration, type-casting, and grotesque physiognomy to mock political opponents. This lithograph exemplifies how political satire operated through visual caricature, anticipating the visual codes that would structure comics and cartoons throughout the century.