Erasmus Wilson ('the Obelisk'), Vanity Fair, 18 December 1880

Leslie Ward's caricature of surgeon and dermatologist W.J.E. Wilson — popularly known for championing the relocation of Cleopatra's Needle to London — presents a rotund, side-on figure in a dark frock coat, top hat tucked under one arm, hands clasped behind his back. The caption 'the Obelisk' winks at Wilson's celebrated campaign rather than his medical career, a characteristic Vanity Fair strategy of pinning a man to his most public obsession. Ward exaggerates Wilson's considerable girth and florid complexion without venturing into ethnic caricature; the treatment is genially satirical toward a prosperous, self-important Victorian professional. No malice, considerable affection — the typical register of 'Spy' toward the establishment he gently mocked from within.