Leslie Ward ('Spy') — 'Diplomacy': Sir Nicholas O'Conor

The plate identifies its subject in the lower right caption as Sir Nicholas O'Conor, British diplomat, beneath the title-word 'Diplomacy.' Ward renders him full-length, hands thrust in coat pockets, in the uniform of Edwardian masculine authority: black frock coat, striped trousers, waistcoat, and silk cravat. The face — high forehead, reddish side-whiskers, a guarded profile — is handled with characteristic Spy restraint: dry psychological observation. The political argument is embedded in the caption's single word: 'Diplomacy' flatters and gently mocks simultaneously, suggesting a man whose whole art is the management of appearances — which the composed, self-contained pose quietly confirms.