From the exhibition
Harry LB McCalmont, 'Men of the Day'
Leslie Ward · Vanity Fair, 5 October 1889

Leslie Ward ('Spy') renders Harry Leslie Blundell McCalmont — soldier, racehorse owner, and heir to a vast banking fortune — as a squat, barrel-chested figure in a double-breasted greatcoat, bowler hat, tan gloves, and a leather satchel slung across his chest. The caption reads simply *Mr. H.L.B. Mc. Calmont*. Ward's caricature works through physical exaggeration: McCalmont's body is compressed almost to a cube, his ruddy, mustachioed face perched atop a thick neck, conveying prosperous solidity rather than elegance. The composition gently satirises the nouveau-rich sporting gentleman — money and muscle, no particular refinement — at a moment when inherited wealth was beginning to look faintly absurd beside meritocratic ambition.
Leslie Ward Public domain