'East Sussex' — Col. Arthur Brookfield, M.P.

The plate caption reads "East Sussex", identifying the subject as Colonel Arthur Brookfield, Conservative M.P. for that constituency. Ward's 'Spy' signature appears lower right. Brookfield is rendered in three-quarter profile, walking stick in one gloved hand, silk top hat tucked under the other — the full equipage of a gentleman of property. The dark frock coat, pale trousers, and reddish-brown gloves anchor him firmly in the Tory squirearchy. Ward offers no grotesque distortion; the mild caricature rests on a florid complexion and a certain blunt self-satisfaction in the jaw — the physiognomy of a man who expects deference. The image flatters even as it gently mocks the type of solid, unremarkable county M.P. who filled the Conservative benches in the late Victorian Parliament.