Robert Browning: 'Modern Poetry'

Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') caricatures the poet Robert Browning for Vanity Fair's long-running 'Men of the Day' series, plate No. 116. The chromolithograph shows a stout, self-satisfied figure in a dark three-piece suit and bow tie, hands thrust into trouser pockets, head tilted with a faint air of complacency. Browning's white hair and full grey-white beard are rendered with affection rather than malice — he was by 1875 a celebrated literary lion, his early obscurity long behind him. The caption, 'Modern Poetry,' carries a dry editorial edge: Browning's notoriously difficult verse was still a target of polite mockery. No ethnic caricature is present. Pellegrini's signature 'Ape' appears lower right.