The image of the poor in the socio-cultural space of the early Modern Britain was construed by both verbal and visual means, and the latter was represented by popular prints. The article offers an analysis of visual images of poverty as a phenomenon and the poor as a social category. The author concludes that the same visual signs of pain and suffering could carry various messages, thus marking different positions in the debate on poverty and poor relief. The British society tended to view the signs of the suffering of the poor within the accepted discourse based on Protestant values, which saw the poor as “the Other”, set in opposition to the “worthy” people. This blurred the focus on pain and suffering and even allowed for irony in connection to the poor, and in some cases — an open mockery of human suffering and deficiencies.