Charles Russell, 'A Son of His Father'

Leslie Ward ('Spy') presents Charles Russell in three-quarter profile, a heavyset man in a dark frock coat and silk top hat, one hand tucked behind his back, the other gripping a folded document — the classic posture of a barrister or politician who commands a room by barely moving. The caption, 'A Son of His Father,' is the joke: Russell's father was the celebrated Lord Chief Justice Charles Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Killowen, and the son is being measured against that formidable reputation. Ward's caricature exaggerates Russell's girth and the slightly pugnacious set of his jaw, but the treatment is genial rather than savage — the plate reads as affectionate ribbing of inherited legal gravitas rather than political attack.