Lord Edmond George Fitzmaurice, 'Calne'

Signed by Spy (Leslie Ward), this chromolithograph plate from Vanity Fair's 'Statesmen' series (No. 266) caricatures Lord Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice, Liberal MP for Calne—the caption naming his constituency rather than the man. Ward renders him in sharp profile: top hat, dark frock coat, light trousers, pince-nez dangling from one hand, the other clasped behind. The head is exaggerated upward and the reddish beard thrust forward, the body trim and slightly hunched—a technique Ward used to suggest intellectual self-importance without outright mockery. Fitzmaurice was a Whig grandee and future Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs; the mild, almost respectful treatment reflects his standing as a gentleman-politician of impeccable Liberal credentials.