“He defended Hyde Park.” Spencer Horatio Walpole caricature c1872.

$90.00

Vanity Fair lithograph, caricature of Statesmen. No. 105, The Right Honourable Spencer Horatio Walpole, M.P. 

"An earnest upholder of Church and State," Mr Walpole is… By profession a lawyer, and yet by nature conscientious, amiable, and honourable, he had not long sat in the House of Commons before he was induced to place his abilities and his character at the disposal of a Ministry; and in 1852 one of his first acts as Secretary of State for the Home Department was to succeed, when Lord Russell had failed, in passing a Militia Bill, which to this day remains the law of the land. Having a large sympathy for the poor and the oppressed and that keen desire to benefit them which sometimes defeats itself, he was also the promoter of the measure extending the Factory Acts to the smaller workshops, which he would probably regard as his own greatest claim to the gratitude of his countrymen." He is best remembered as the scapegoat for the Conservative Ministry after riots followed demonstrations at Hyde Park. Walpole generously capitulated and allowed his resignation to be attributed to "the state of his health". 

During six months of 1872, Adriano Cecioni worked as an artist for Vanity Fair, a short weekly magazine of social commentary, published in London from 1868 to 1914. The magazine's popularity was guaranteed with the inclusion of an amusing chromolithograph caricature, parodying any newsworthy personage. Over the years of publication it became a mark of honour to be the 'victim' of one of the magazine's caricaturists. The publisher accompanied each lithograph with a witty text, written under his pseudonym of 'Jehu Junior' (after the biblical prophet who effected the downfall of his enemies).It was the first time lithography had been used for caricatures, and they were printed by the eminent lithographer, Vincent Brooks.

Page size 355 x 230 (14 x 9 inches). In good condition.