Robert Montagu, 'A Working Conservative'

Signed Ape (Carlo Pellegrini), this chromolithograph — Statesmen No. 64 — presents Lord Robert Montagu, Conservative MP and minor ministerial figure, absorbed in reading a volume conspicuously titled SEWAGE. The joke is parliamentary and pointed: Montagu had become associated with sanitary reform legislation, earnest committee work that placed him firmly among the unglamorous, diligent backbench grinders. Pellegrini renders him in frock coat and bow tie, eyes downcast, entirely self-satisfied — the portrait of a man who genuinely enjoys his brief. The caption 'A Working Conservative' flatters and gently mocks simultaneously, implying that conscientious industry among Tories is rare enough to require a label. No ethnic caricature is present; the wit is purely political.