John Duke Coleridge, 'A risen barrister'

Labeled Statesmen No. 48 and captioned "A risen barrister," this chromolithograph by Alfred Thompson ('ATn') caricatures Sir John Duke Coleridge, then Solicitor-General and rising Liberal parliamentarian, soon to become Lord Chief Justice of England. Thompson exaggerates Coleridge's bald dome, prominent jaw, and thin smile with the period's typical physiognomic license — a genteel, not hostile, treatment reserved for Establishment figures the magazine broadly admired. He strides in profile, frock coat immaculate, top hat dangling at his side with patrician ease. The pose encodes his dual identity: courtroom advocate turned political insider. The pun in the caption — 'risen,' not merely successful — nods to his recent Queen's Counsel elevation and signals Vanity Fair's wry approval of ambition handsomely rewarded.