Gillray (James)

London, Henry G. Bohn, 1849.
one of the most famous of Gillray’s social satires, mocking those afflicted by the excesses of rich living in the agonising form of gout, the excruciating pain embodied in a fire-breathing black demon, sinking its snaggled fangs, and impaling its barbed claws into the grossly inflamed foot of the unseen sufferer. Gout was a common theme in caricatures of the period, almost exclusively targeting middle-aged to elderly men whose stubborn adherence to over-indulging in fortified wines and game meats has led them to its almost inevitable physiological consequences,.