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‘The Blue Devils__!!’, 1823

© 2021 Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Description

Mounted hand coloured etching, entitled ‘The Blue Devils__!!’, drawn and etched by George Cruikshank and published by G. Humphrey in 1823.

Here a man, completely lost in depression, is dressed in nightgown, cap, breeches and slippers sitting in a chair close to a fireplace, empty save for a long bill. A number of small figures and devils torment him; a bailiff taps his shoulder and holds out a writ, a devil offers him an open razor, a small figure tries to put a noose around his neck.

By his feet a miniature beadle leads three pregnant women, an old-fashion doctor hurries towards him – followed by an undertaker with a coffin. The blue devil and other imaginary figures were a device used by artists, notably George Cruikshank, where the patient’s condition is highlighted by these imaginary figures who torment them.

The devils are metaphors (as well as a pun) for the malaise that the patient is haunted by; a character suggesting a physical, mental and psychosomatic explanation for their condition. In