'Val' — Valentine C. Prinsep, R.A.

Ward's caricature of painter Valentine Cameron Prinsep — captioned simply 'Val' — turns the artist's considerable bulk into the joke. The composition is straightforward: a broad, barrel-chested figure in grey suit, dark frock coat, and orange cravat, a decorative watch-chain the one flourish of vanity. The red beard and tousled hair are pushed upward into an almost spherical mass. There is no sharp political argument here; the plate belongs to Vanity Fair's gentler celebrity mode, ribbing a well-connected Royal Academician who moved comfortably between the Aesthetic movement and the establishment. Prinsep had painted in India under Lord Canning; his social ease and physical enormity made him a natural, affectionate target. Spy treats him as a man the reader already likes.