Caricature of Henry Fawcett
Date
1872
Sitter
Henry Fawcett (1833 - 1884, British) , Economist
Creator
Melchiorre De Filippis Delfico (1825 - 1895, Italian) , Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 265mm
width (print): 245mm
width (print): 245mm
Subject
Description
Caricature of Henry Fawcett at full length, shown in left profile as viewed with his arms behind his back.
Inscribed above: ‘VANITY FAIR. Dec. 21, 1872.
Inscribed below: ‘No. 216. SATESMEN, No. 132./ “A Radical leader.”’
This caricature is titled ‘A Radical Leader’ and was number 132 of the ‘Statesmen’ series published in Vanity Fair.
The associated text reads: ‘Mr. Fawcett is a man of parts; he has assiduously cultivated the great abilities which nature first gave him, and has owed to them alone the marked position which he has obtained. Born of a family possessing neither influence nor fortune, he devoted himself early to Cambridge, and seemed destined to wear out a small existence in the precincts of the University, or at most to go beyond it only in the memory of some fellow-students. But he craved for an audience larger and more immediately reached, and in 1859 he contested a Parliamentary election in Southwark. Unsuccessful there, he next tried Cambridge and then Brighton, which at last returned him to the House of Commons, where he at once took a special place as the ready exponent of advanced Radicalism of a certain doctrinaire cast […]’
Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), British economist and politician, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1882.
Melchiorre De Filippis Delfico (1825-1895), Italian artist, composer, writer and caricaturist for Vanity Fair in the early 1870s.
Inscribed above: ‘VANITY FAIR. Dec. 21, 1872.
Inscribed below: ‘No. 216. SATESMEN, No. 132./ “A Radical leader.”’
This caricature is titled ‘A Radical Leader’ and was number 132 of the ‘Statesmen’ series published in Vanity Fair.
The associated text reads: ‘Mr. Fawcett is a man of parts; he has assiduously cultivated the great abilities which nature first gave him, and has owed to them alone the marked position which he has obtained. Born of a family possessing neither influence nor fortune, he devoted himself early to Cambridge, and seemed destined to wear out a small existence in the precincts of the University, or at most to go beyond it only in the memory of some fellow-students. But he craved for an audience larger and more immediately reached, and in 1859 he contested a Parliamentary election in Southwark. Unsuccessful there, he next tried Cambridge and then Brighton, which at last returned him to the House of Commons, where he at once took a special place as the ready exponent of advanced Radicalism of a certain doctrinaire cast […]’
Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), British economist and politician, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1882.
Melchiorre De Filippis Delfico (1825-1895), Italian artist, composer, writer and caricaturist for Vanity Fair in the early 1870s.
Object history
Vanity Fair’s ‘Statesmen’ series ran in conjunction with its ‘Men of the Day’ series, which featured a full page, colour caricature of a significant public figure and text commentary, largely written by "Jehu Junior".
This print was purchased by the Royal Society in 1999.
This print was purchased by the Royal Society in 1999.
Associated place