Stafford Henry Northcote, Statesmen No. 65

Pellegrini's chromolithograph presents Northcote full-length, slightly stooped, clutching a top hat at his side while one hand tucks inside his frock coat — the pose of a man caught mid-deliberation. The auburn beard and pince-nez are exaggerated with affectionate precision. The caption cuts cleanly: *"He does his duty to his party, and is fortunate if it happens to be also his duty to his country."* The line marks Northcote as a reliable Conservative loyalist rather than an independent statesman — damning with faint praise. At the time he was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Disraeli, a capable if unflashy technocrat whom Gladstone's Liberals considered no serious threat. Pellegrini's caricature, signed *Ape*, underlines that assessment without cruelty.