Leslie Ward ('Spy') — 'Odo' — Lord Odo Russell, 28 July 1877

Signed 'Spy' at lower right, this chromolithograph caricatures Lord Odo William Leopold Russell, British Ambassador to Berlin and a significant architect of Bismarckian-era diplomacy. Ward renders him seated on a plain wooden chair, legs crossed, fingers laced contentedly over his waistcoat — a posture of comfortable self-possession. The head is characteristically enlarged and tipped forward, pince-nez balanced on the nose, the reddish beard trimmed to respectable dishevelment. The caption reads simply 'Odo'. The comedy targets the well-fed diplomat's air of polished complacency. Russell had recently navigated the Congress of Berlin's preliminary manoeuvring, making him a natural subject for a magazine that equated access with prestige.