Robert Uniacke Penrose-Fitzgerald, M.P. — 'Cambridge Borough'

Signed 'Spy' (Leslie Ward), this chromolithograph from Vanity Fair's long-running 'Statesmen' series (No. 648) caricatures Robert Uniacke Penrose-Fitzgerald, Conservative M.P. for Cambridge Borough. Ward renders him in three-quarter profile, hands thrust into the pockets of a wide-lapelled brown lounge suit, a tall silk hat crowning a lean, mustachioed face with an air of patrician ease. The caption 'Cambridge Borough' locates his political constituency rather than his person — typical of the series' dry wit. No ethnic caricature is present; the exaggeration is social, targeting the languid self-possession of the late-Victorian gentleman-politician. The orange watch-fob and tan shoes are Ward's characteristic flourishes, softening the political portrait into a study of fashionable type.