'North Norfolk' — Herbert Hardy Cozens-Hardy
Leslie Ward · Leslie Ward ('Spy'), Vanity Fair, April 13, 1893
Ward's chromolithograph presents Cozens-Hardy in pure profile, a pose that lets the caricaturist weaponize the subject's prominent nose and receding chin into a silhouette of comic gravity. The Norfolk barrister and Liberal MP stands hands-clasped behind his back, wearing a frock coat and silk top hat — the uniform of respectable Victorian public life. His white mutton-chop whiskers signal seniority; his expression is sober to the point of self-importance. The caption reads simply 'North Norfolk,' identifying constituency over person, a Vanity Fair habit that reminds readers these men derive their consequence from place and party. No ethnic caricature inflects the image; Ward's satire here is purely social, skewering the stolid Gladstonian professional class with affectionate precision.
About this artifact
- Creator
- Leslie Ward
- Date
- Leslie Ward ('Spy'), Vanity Fair, April 13, 1893
- 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.