Content note: Ridicule caricature of a political figure kneeling with a rosary at swordpoint. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Ultimo acto d'um valente (Last Act of a 'Brave Man'): Sidónio Pais and Afonso Costa
A colour postcard shows a caricatured Afonso Costa kneeling with clasped hands, a rosary and a cross-shaped decoration before a uniformed Sidónio Pais who points a sword at him; the only caption is the ironic 'Ultimo acto d'um valente'. The tell is the sarcastic label 'valente' (brave) laid over a kneeling, pleading figure, ridiculing a fallen rival.
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Publisher and artist not identified on the postcard (pro-Sidónio Pais political postcard)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- Portuguese Republic
- Medium
- Postcard
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Sidonio Pais Government
- Leader
- Sidonio Pais
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- Elections and party politics
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (anonymous postcard published 1918, before 1931; PD-old per Wikimedia Commons)
Anonymous postcard, Portugal, 1918; Casa Comum (Fundação Mário Soares), via Wikimedia Commons
Text on the object
Ultimo acto d'um valente
Last act of a brave man
