ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

Lord Hothfield

Leslie Ward · Vanity Fair, 17 August 1889

Lord Hothfield
Leslie Ward ('Spy') here caricatures Henry Tufton, 1st Baron Hothfield, a Kent landowner and Liberal Unionist peer, as *Men of the Day* No. 436. The full-length chromolithograph shows a balding, mustachioed gentleman in a brown frock coat and pale-striped trousers, holding a black top hat in one orange-gloved hand while the other rests in his pocket — the studied ease of the English aristocracy made gently ridiculous. Ward's technique is characteristic: body proportions slightly compressed, the head enlarged and features — here the broad forehead, clipped mustache, and self-satisfied grin — sharpened into a recognizable mask. Hothfield's political profile was modest, making his inclusion a polite acknowledgment of rank rather than satirical necessity.

Leslie Ward Public domain