J. d'Aguilar Samuda

Plate No. 224 from the Statesmen series, captioned "Iron Shipbuilding." The chromolithograph, signed by the anonymous artist "Lyall," caricatures Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda (1813–1885), Liberal MP and pioneering iron shipbuilder whose Thames yard launched some of the Royal Navy's earliest iron-hulled vessels. The figure is rendered in profile: an oversized head with bulbous nose, curly grey hair, and sallow complexion atop a dapper frock coat, top hat held at the side. The exaggerated physiognomy follows Vanity Fair's standard comic formula. The label below reads Statesmen, No. 139.