Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 11

Sir Leslie Ward
Gilbert & Sullivan: Framed Pair of 19th C. Vanity Fair Portraits

1874 & 1881

$1,075
£830.62
€960.28
CA$1,519.05
A$1,703.72
CHF 892.21
MX$20,701.84
NOK 11,329.59
SEK 10,741.25
DKK 7,167.98

About the Item

This is a pair of Vanity Fair color chromolithograph caricatures of the famous and beloved English musical composers and playwrights Gilbert and Sullivan by Sir Leslie Ward (Spy) (1851-1922) and Carlo Pellegini (Ape) (1839-1889). The portrait of Arthur Sullivan entitled "English Music" was published in Vanity Fair on March 14, 1874 and W. S. Gilbert entitled "Patience" was published in the Men of the Day portion of Vanity Fair on May 21, 1881. Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900) is regarded as the finest British composer of the 19th century. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Sullivan composed 23 operas, 13 major orchestral works, eight choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous hymns and other church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. The best known of his hymns and songs include "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord". Sir William Schwenck (WS) Gilbert (1836-1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert's creative output included over 75 plays and libretti, and numerous short stories, poems and lyrics, both comic and serious. These Vanity Fair portraits of Gilbert and Sullivan are presented in identical ornate black wood frames and cream-colored French mats with grey inner mats. The frames each measure 21.75" x 16" x .88". The frames and prints are in excellent condition. From 1868 until February 5, 1914, Vanity Fair, a weekly magazine of social, literary and political content, was very popular in Victorian and later, Edwardian England. The most popular of its features were the full page caricatures of famous men and women of the day which included their biographies, which remains the magazines lasting legacy. Vanity Fair's most famous artists were Carlo Pellegrini who signed his works “Ape” and Leslie Ward, known as “Spy”, but many other artists and writers contributed caricatures and prose to the publication, including Lewis Carroll, Willie Wilde, P. G. Wodehouse, Jessie Pope and Bertram Fletcher Robinson. Thomas Gibson Bowles was the founder, owner, and editor of the magazine until 1889. He described the images as "grim faces made more grim, grotesque figures made more grotesque, and dull people made duller by the genius of our talented collaborator 'Ape'; but there is nothing that has been treated with a set purpose to make it something that it was not already originally in a lesser degree."
  • Creator:
  • Creation Year:
    1874 & 1881
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 21.75 in (55.25 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)Depth: 0.88 in (2.24 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Alamo, CA
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: #'s 250 & 2511stDibs: LU117326052942

More From This Seller

View All
A Pair of Framed 19th Century Colored Lithographs of Tudor Scenes by Joseph Nash
By Joseph Nash
Located in Alamo, CA
This is a pair of framed 19th century tinted lithographs with hand-coloring entitled "Gallery Over the Hall, Knowle, Kent" and "Terrace Bramshill, Hants" by Charles Joseph Hullmandel (1789-1850) after drawings by Joseph Nash (1809-1878), from "Mansions of England in the Olden Time", published in London in 1839-1849. Nash's publication consists of a series of views of Tudor domestic architecture, which Nash said depicted "the most characteristic features of the domestic architecture of the Tudor Age, and also illustrating the costumes, habits, and recreations of our ancestors." The scenes of the aristocratic ladies and gentlemen (including Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I), who are depicted inhabiting the rooms of these great houses, were taken directly from the portraits on the walls. Charles Joseph Hullmandel, was involved in the creation of these lithographs. He was a famous British lithographer, who invented the "lithotint" process, which he named and patented in 1840. This technique, allowing for greater nuance and value gradation than pure lithography, was an ideal means of expression for Nash's historically rich and picturesque depictions of Tudor mansions and their inhabitants. Hullmandel is also remembered for creating many lithographs from the paintings by J. M. W. Turner. The "Gallery Over the Hall" depicts a great hall with children playing with skittles (wooden pins resembling bowling pins), a doll and what looks to be a St Charles spaniel, while a lady in Tudor attire watches over them next to a massive stone fireplace. Adults are watching from in the distance while a man bows...
Category

Late 19th Century Romantic Interior Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Hand Colored 19th c. Vanity Fair Caricature of an Opera Singer, "Polish Tenor"
By Sir Leslie Ward
Located in Alamo, CA
A hand colored Vanity Fair caricature of a 19th century opera singer, M Jean de Reszke, entitled 'Polish Tenor'. The print was created by the most famou...
Category

1890s Victorian Portrait Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Sir Henry James, Statesman: 19th C. Vanity Fair Caricature by Pellegrini (Ape)
By Carlo Pellegrini 1
Located in Alamo, CA
A Vanity Fair chromolithograph caricature of Sir Henry James, M.P., ("Nervous"), Statesman by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini) March 7, 1874, No. 164 from the ...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Portrait Prints

Materials

Lithograph

1st Violin Duke of Edinburgh: 19th C. Vanity Fair Caricature by Ape (Pellegrini)
By Carlo Pellegrini 1
Located in Alamo, CA
Vanity Fair color chromolithograph caricature of "First Violin " Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gothan by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini)...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Portrait Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Vanity Fair Caricature, Rev. Edgar Sheppard "A Great Marrier" by Spy
By Sir Leslie Ward
Located in Alamo, CA
Vanity Fair color chromolithograph caricature of Rev. Edgar Sheppard "A Great Marrier" by Spy (Leslie Ward) March 14, 1904 from the "Clergymen" series....
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Portrait Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Four 19th Century Hand Colored Engravings Depicting English Royal Residences
By Charles Wild
Located in Alamo, CA
Four hand colored etchings and aquatints depicting interiors within English royal residences, including "The Blue Velvet Room at Carlton House", "The Queen's Library at Frogmore", "T...
Category

1810s Academic Interior Prints

Materials

Engraving

You May Also Like

3 Beautifully Framed Vanity Fair Satyrical Prints
Located in Godshill, Isle of Wight
3 Beautifully Framed Vanity Fair Satyrical Prints This is a collection of 3 Beautifully Framed Vanity Fair Satyrical Prints This is a good collection of coloured prints, the pict...
Category

Antique Early 1900s Beaux Arts Prints

Materials

Pewter

19th C., Vanity Fair Framed Chromolithograph of Gentlemen Ex. Christie's
By Sir Leslie Ward
Located in Morristown, NJ
[English Gentlemen], from Vanity Fair chromolithograph, on wove papers. Printed by Vincent Brooks Day & Son., with various dates from 1875 to 1897. Professionally framed with black and gilt frames and beige silk mats, with margins, apparently in excellent condition, not examined out of the frames. Vanity Fair was a weekly magazine published in London, founded & edited by Thomas Gibson Bowles. His aim was to expose to contemporary vanities of Victorian society. From 1868 to 1914, full page colour lithographs appeared in most weekly issues, frequently lampooning or lauding their subjects which included artists, athletes, royalty, politicians, scientists, authors, actors, sportsmen, lawyers, diplomats, soldiers, clergy, scholars and other celebrities of the day - mostly British, but also many other internationally significant personalities. Over 2,300 of these colour cartoons were printed, and they are considered the chief cultural legacy of the magazine, forming a pictorial record of many of the most significant public figures of the period. They are renowned throughout the world and highly collectible and recognisable. Famous artists contributed to Vanity Fair, typically under pen names. The best remembered today is Leslie Ward (1851-1922), who signed his works as "Spy", and whose caricatures account for well over half of those featured in Vanity Fair. So famous have these fabulous prints become, Vanity Fair caricatures today often are referred to simply as "Spy Cartoons...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century English Late Victorian Prints

Materials

Glass, Wood, Paper

1870s & 1880s Set of 6 Framed "Judges" Vanity Fair Spy & Ape Prints
By Carlo Pellegrini, Sir Leslie Ward
Located in Chapel Hill, NC
1870s & 1880s set of 6 framed period "Judges" Vanity Fair Spy & Ape Prints. These full page caricatures were published by Vanity Fair of famous men & w...
Category

Antique 1870s British Victorian Prints

Materials

Paper

Collection of 8 Vanity Fair “Spy” Prints, etc.
Located in Godshill, Isle of Wight
Collection of 8 Vanity Fair “Spy” Prints, etc. A good collection of coloured prints including one of the King dating from the beginning of the...
Category

Vintage 1910s Edwardian Political and Patriotic Memorabilia

Materials

Paper

Pair of Framed English Etchings
Located in New York, NY
A pair of circa 1930's English prints with gilt frames. Measurements: Height: 9.5" Width: 7.5" Depth: 1"
Category

Vintage 1930s English Prints

Materials

Giltwood, Paper

Framed Prints of Pieces in Her Majesty's Collection at Windsor by H. Shaw, Pair
Located in Elkhart, IN
A gorgeous pair of framed prints of two pieces "In her Majesty's collection at Windsor" by H. Shaw. One is of a cup that dates about 1530 featuri...
Category

Antique Mid-19th Century English Neoclassical Prints

Materials

Glass, Wood, Paper