ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

'An erudite Dean' — Very Rev. J. Armitage Robinson, D.D.

Leslie Ward · 1905

'An erudite Dean' — Very Rev. J. Armitage Robinson, D.D.
Leslie Ward ('Spy') presents Robinson in strict profile, robed head-to-toe in black with a scarlet chimere collar and a gold medallion at his chest — the visual grammar of high ecclesiastical rank. He carries a bunch of keys and a white cloth, small props that signal custodial authority over a great building. The caption reads *An erudite Dean*, with Robinson's full title beneath. The caricature's mild exaggeration targets his angular, forward-thrusting jaw and slightly stooped, purposeful stride rather than any ethnic feature — Ward reserves his sharpest distortions for politicians; clergymen receive a gentler, almost reverential hand. Robinson, Dean of Westminster from 1902, was a distinguished patristics scholar, and the image flatters that reputation through composed dignity rather than mockery.

Leslie Ward CC0