Thomas Edward Taylor, M.P. — 'Lately Whipped'

Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') renders the Irish Conservative MP and party whip Thomas Edward Taylor as a barrel-chested figure in a dark frock coat, checked trousers, and grey top hat, gripping a walking cane with one hand while planting the other on his hip. The auburn beard is enormously exaggerated — a signature Pellegrini device for conveying blunt, unmovable temperament. The caption 'Lately Whipped' is a double-edged political pun: Taylor served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip, yet the phrase implies he came off worse in a recent parliamentary contest. No ethnic caricature is present beyond the Irish subject's florid complexion, mild by the period's norms. Statesmen No. 177.