Lord Ronald Gower, 'A Sculptor'

Spy (Leslie Ward) renders Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland Levenson-Gower—aristocrat, amateur sculptor, and notably open homosexual in a period when that carried real legal risk—as a spry, goggle-eyed dandy in black frock coat and buff trousers, striding with one hand cocked behind his back. A pince-nez dangles from his nose; a boutonnière adorns his lapel. Behind him, loosely sketched workshop debris includes a helmeted bust and a reclining figure, confirming the caption 'a sculptor' at the plate's foot. The caricature exaggerates his slight build and prominent profile but remains relatively gentle—Ward typically softened aristocratic subjects. Gower's friendship with Oscar Wilde (he is thought a partial model for Lord Henry Wotton) made him a recognizable figure in late-Victorian aesthetic circles.