Lord Burton

Signed by Spy (Leslie Ward), this chromolithograph caricatures Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton — brewing magnate, Liberal MP, and philanthropist whose Bass ale fortune made him one of Victorian England's wealthiest commoners. Ward renders him as a stout, silver-haired gentleman in a boldly checked three-piece suit, polka-dot bow tie, and tan Oxford shoes, a walking stick tucked behind his back with patrician ease. The silhouette — head slightly sunken into broad shoulders, belly asserting itself — is characteristic Spy: affectionate physical exaggeration rather than savage attack. The single caption word "Burton" suffices; the name was synonymous with British beer. No ethnic caricature is present. The overall tone flatters a pillar of Liberal establishment money.