'Rochester' — Edward Stuart Talbot, Bishop of Rochester
Leslie Ward · Leslie Ward ('Spy'), Vanity Fair, 21 April 1904
Ward's caricature of Edward Stuart Talbot, then Bishop of Rochester, presents him in full episcopal working dress: gaiters, chimere, and pectoral cross on a chain beneath an open frock coat. He carries a tightly furled black umbrella and wears round wire-framed spectacles beneath a silk top hat — the uniform of a senior Anglican dignitary rendered with quiet comedy. The caption simply reads 'Rochester.' Talbot, a High Churchman and later Bishop of Winchester, was known for social-reform sympathies. Ward exaggerates his red beard and ruddy complexion but avoids grotesque distortion, treating his subject with the relative warmth Spy typically reserved for clergymen he admired rather than politicians he wished to puncture.
About this artifact
- Creator
- Leslie Ward
- Date
- Leslie Ward ('Spy'), Vanity Fair, 21 April 1904
- Rights
- Public domain — free to view, share, and reuse.
- Restoration
- Digitally restored and hosted by ComicBooks.com.
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