Francis Henry Goldsmid, 'Barrister and Baronet'

James Tissot's chromolithograph depicts Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid (1808–1878), numbered Statesmen No. 131 in Vanity Fair's celebrated caricature series. The caption 'Barrister and Baronet' neatly summarizes a career of historic firsts: Goldsmid was the first Jewish barrister called to the English bar (1833) and, as a Liberal MP, a persistent advocate for Jewish civic equality. Tissot renders him in profile—stout, pince-nez perched on a bulbous nose, white side-whiskers framing a ruddy face, a turquoise bow-tie splashing colour against a dark frock coat and top hat. The exaggerated nose follows period conventions of Jewish caricature common in illustrated satirical press, deployed here without evident hostility, though the visual vocabulary carried cultural freight Goldsmid himself would have recognized. The portrait reads as affectionate establishment acceptance of a man the magazine deemed worthy of the statesman's page.