Sir Leslie Ward

Classic Vanity Fair Supplement by Spy aka Sir Leslie Ward colour print of the yachtsman, "Fyvie" aka Lord Leith of Fyvie Alexander John Forbes-Leith, 1...

Vanity Fair legal portrait of Alderman Sir Robert Walter Carden KNT. MP. 380mm by 260mm (sheet)

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...

'Frank Wootton' Hentschel-Colourtype, 1909 Vanity Fair portrait of Frank Wootton. (1893 -1940), known as "Frank" or "Frankie", and sometimes referred to as "The Wonderboy", who wa...

'a sculptor' Vanity Fair portrait of Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland-Leveson-Gower. He was a connoisseur and collector. He practised as a sculpto...

Vanity Fair legal portrait of John Patrick Murphy QC. 380mm by 260mm (sheet)

'a good soldier'. Vanity Fair portrait of Lt.General George Wentworth Alexander Higginson, who was born in 1826. He joined the Grenadier Guards at 1...

Vanity Fair legal portrait of Justice Gainsford Bruce. Sir Leslie Matthew Ward was a British portrait artist and caricaturist who over four decades painted 1,325 portraits which wer...