Entre um ministro e um larapio, 1889 Kingdom of Portugal cartoon: A full-page cartoon of a stout, top-hatted John Bull

Entre um ministro e um larapio (Between a Minister and a Pilferer), Os Pontos nos ii

A full-page cartoon of a stout, top-hatted John Bull with a slip marked 'NOTE' at his mouth, gripping the raised fist of a bearded minister in a bicorne whose sash is lettered 'Torre Espada' (the Order of the Tower and Sword), beside a sack lettered 'Estrangeiros'. The tell is the headline, which sets 'um ministro' against 'um larapio' (a pilferer), a loaded label that the drawing leaves the reader to fasten on one or both men.

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Name-calling

Date: December 19, 1889
Period: Pre-1914
Made by: Os Pontos nos ii (Lisbon satirical weekly); cartoonist Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro; lithographed by the Companhia Nacional Editora

Full record

Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights

Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: Kingdom of Portugal
Medium: Cartoon
Issuer type: Media
Regime: Luciano de Castro Government
Leader: Jose Luciano de Castro
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Demonize
Themes: Empire and colonialism, Media and information
Event: British Ultimatum of 1890
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Wikimedia Commons (Hemeroteca Digital, Lisbon), retrieved September 29, 2026
Rights: Public domain (published 1889, before 1931; artist died 1905; PD-old-70-expired per Wikimedia Commons)
Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, Os Pontos nos ii, Lisbon, 19 December 1889, via Hemeroteca Digital de Lisboa and Wikimedia Commons

Text on the object

Original (Portuguese) · read from the image, not independently checked

19 de Dezembro de 1889 [Os Pontos nos ii] 313

Entre um ministro e um larapio

Nunca as mãos lhe doam

[on the sash:] TORRE ESPADA / VALOR LEALDADE E MERITO
[on the slip at John Bull's mouth:] NOTE
[on the sack:] ESTRANGEIROS
[lettering on John Bull's cuff and sleeve: illegible]
[signature:] RAPHAEL BORDALLO PINHEIRO

Isso, arruma-lhe! A tua nota diplomatica, reconcilia-me com as mãos que tanto tempo levaram a despachar o premio do dr. Ferreira.

Anno V — Lithographia da Companhia Nacional Editora — 229

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

19 December 1889 [Os Pontos nos ii] 313

Between a minister and a pilferer

May their hands never ache

[on the sash:] TOWER SWORD / VALOUR LOYALTY AND MERIT
[on the slip at John Bull's mouth:] NOTE
[on the sack:] FOREIGNERS
[lettering on John Bull's cuff and sleeve: illegible]
[signature:] RAPHAEL BORDALLO PINHEIRO

That's it, put him away! Your diplomatic note reconciles me with the hands that took so long to dispatch Dr. Ferreira's prize.

Year V — Lithographed by the Companhia Nacional Editora — 229