Alfred Jephson, 'The Imperial Institute'

Ward's chromolithograph presents Captain Sir Alfred Jephson, RN, in profile — the standard Spy stance — wearing a double-breasted frock coat over striped trousers, hands clasped behind his back, his silver hair and trimmed moustache conveying senior-service rectitude. The caption 'The Imperial Institute' identifies him not by rank but by institutional role: Jephson was connected to the Imperial Institute in South Kensington, founded in 1887. The man is rendered as embodiment of an institution built to advertise Empire's commercial reach to a domestic audience at the height of Diamond Jubilee enthusiasm.