Otho Augustus FitzGerald, 'A Message from the Queen'

Signed 'Spy' (Leslie Ward), this chromolithograph — plate No. 249 in the series, Statesmen No. 150 — caricatures Lord Otho FitzGerald, MP, with the caption 'A Message from the Queen.' Ward deploys his signature technique of grotesque enlargement: FitzGerald's heavy-lidded eyes and voluminous auburn beard dwarf his trim uniformed body, gold-braided cuffs marking court or official dress. He holds an unfurled document in one hand and a tall ceremonial staff in the other — the props of a royal messenger, literalising the caption. The political joke is mild: FitzGerald was a Groom-in-Waiting and Liberal MP, more courtier than combatant. Ward mocks gentle deference to the Crown rather than any scandal, presenting a man whose career was essentially ornamental.