A Cartoon of Raphael and Daniel O'Connell Crying

This colored lithograph by John Doyle (pseudonym H.B.) depicts two men at a desk in exaggerated distress, one gesturing dramatically while the other weeps into his hand. The print exemplifies the tradition of political satire inherited from Gillray and Rowlandson, using caricature and physical comedy to mock public figures. Lithography allowed artists like Doyle to produce sharp, detailed images with hand-applied color for mass distribution. Published during turbulent Irish politics, such prints circulated widely among newspapers and print shops, shaping public opinion through humor and ridicule. This tradition of visual political commentary directly influenced the development of sequential narrative art and the comic strip, establishing caricature and exaggeration as tools for political critique and entertainment.