'Piety and Banking' — The Hon. Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird
Carlo Pellegrini · Vanity Fair, 15 January 1876
Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') renders Kinnaird — banker, evangelical philanthropist, and long-serving YMCA president — as a stout, balding figure in formal black frock coat and bow tie, clutching ledger-like papers under both arms. The caption 'Piety and Banking' is the entire argument: it skewers the Victorian habit of yoking commercial power to ostentatious godliness, implying the two interests are rather more compatible than their practitioners admit. Kinnaird was simultaneously a partner in Ransom & Bouverie's bank and a tireless Christian activist; Pellegrini's affectionate but pointed rendering — heavy body, self-satisfied profile — lets the irony do its work without cruelty. The satirical charge is purely one of class and confessional hypocrisy.
About this artifact
- Creator
- Carlo Pellegrini
- Date
- Vanity Fair, 15 January 1876
- Rights
- Public domain — free to view, share, and reuse.
- Restoration
- Digitally restored and hosted by ComicBooks.com.
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