Tom Cannon
Leslie Ward · Leslie Ward ('Spy'), *Vanity Fair*, 12 September 1885
The caption reads simply 'Tom Cannon', identifying the celebrated English jockey who won five Classic races. Spy depicts Cannon seated in a weighing-chair — the iron hoop-and-basket contraption used on racecourses to verify a jockey's weight before and after a race — holding a saddle across his lap and gripping the overhead bar with one raised hand. The pose is at once professional and slightly absurd, the chair substituting for the absent horse. Cannon wears full racing silks: red-and-cream striped jacket, cream breeches, and knee-high black boots. The likeness is gently exaggerated in the Spy manner — sharp chin, slight smirk — consistent with Vanity Fair's treatment of sporting heroes it admired.
About this artifact
- Creator
- Leslie Ward
- Date
- Leslie Ward ('Spy'), *Vanity Fair*, 12 September 1885
- Rights
- Public domain — free to view, share, and reuse.
- Restoration
- Digitally restored and hosted by ComicBooks.com.
Part of our mission to preserve and restore the public-domain heritage of the medium.