Gerald William Lascelles, 'The New Forest'

Leslie Ward ('Spy') portrays the Hon. Gerald William Lascelles (1849–1928), Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest, seated outdoors in a falconer's kit: olive tweed suit, buff breeches, tall black riding boots, and a pith helmet resting at his feet. A hooded falcon perches on his gloved left fist, its jesses and bells rendered with care. The caption 'The New Forest' identifies him by office rather than name — typical of Vanity Fair's insider shorthand for readers who would recognize a royal cousin and sporting administrator immediately. Ward's treatment is genial rather than cutting: the broad, bearded face is slightly enlarged and darkened in complexion in the mild ethnic-shorthand manner common to the period's caricature conventions, but the overall tone flatters a well-connected gentleman amateur.