Ralph Bernal Osborne, 'The Smart Critic'

Alfred Thompson ('Tn') contributes this chromolithograph — Statesmen No. 49, plate 302 — of Ralph Bernal Osborne (1808–1882), the Irish-born Liberal MP notorious for parliamentary wit sharp enough to unsettle governments of either party. The caption, 'The smart critic,' is perfectly chosen: Osborne never held cabinet office, yet his sardonic interventions from the backbenches were feared across the House. Thompson's caricature exaggerates his broad, jowly head atop a corpulent frame clad in immaculate black frock-coat and bow tie, one finger raised mid-epigram, the other hand pocketed — the posture of a man who has just said something devastating and knows it. No ethnic distortion is present; the comedy is purely social, targeting vanity and self-satisfaction rather than origin.