'A Prophet' — Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Pellegrini draws Blunt in profile, hands clasped behind his back, belly thrust forward beneath a loose cream suit and low-crowned bowler — the posture of a man who has decided he is right and is waiting for the world to catch up. The caption, *'a prophet'*, is double-edged: Blunt had recently been campaigning loudly for Egyptian and Irish independence, making him a nuisance to the Liberal establishment. The caricature exaggerates his red-brown beard and heavy brow into something faintly Old Testament, lending the 'prophet' label a satirical edge that mocked his self-cast role as conscience of empire. The comedy is entirely directed at English patrician self-righteousness.