SIR LESLIE WARD “SPY” (1851–1922) - THE AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH

THE AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH
Lord Northcote — Governor-General of Australia
Original Vanity Fair Chromolithograph — 3 March 1904
Statesmen No. 764
“The Australian Commonwealth”
Lord Northcote and Australia
An Australian National Collection Image
Vincent Brooks, Day & Son — lithographer
Vanity Fair Magazine — publisher
1904
Chromolithograph on paper
Sheet 37.6 × 23.0 cm
“Spy” — Sir Leslie Ward
Artwork Details
Sitter: Henry Stafford Northcote, Baron Northcote (1846–1911)
Title: The Australian Commonwealth
Series: Statesmen
Publication: Vanity Fair
Publication date: 3 March 1904
Medium: Original colour chromolithograph
Publisher: Vanity Fair Magazine
Lithographer: Vincent Brooks, Day & Son
Image: approximately 19 × 31 cm
Mount: approximately 46 × 32 cm
Presentation: Mounted as shown

An original Edwardian Vanity Fair chromolithograph portraying Henry Stafford Northcote, Baron Northcote (1846–1911), shortly before taking office as Governor-General of Australia.

Drawn by celebrated British caricaturist Sir Leslie Ward (1851–1922) under his famous pseudonym “Spy,” the portrait was published by Vanity Fair on 3 March 1904 under the highly appropriate title:

The National Portrait Gallery, London, identifies the work as Statesmen No. 764 and confirms its publication date, artist and medium.

Henry Stafford Northcote was educated at Eton and Oxford, entered the Foreign Office and subsequently became a Member of Parliament. After serving as Governor of Bombay from 1899 to 1903, he was appointed Governor-General of Australia in 1904.

Northcote travelled extensively throughout Australia during his term and remained Governor-General until 1908.

The timing of this portrait is therefore particularly significant: Vanity Fair published The Australian Commonwealth in March 1904, the same year Northcote assumed Australia's highest vice-regal office.

An example of The Australian Commonwealth is held in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

The Australian NPG catalogues it as:

Sir Leslie Ward

The National Portrait Gallery, London also holds an original example, measuring 359 × 242 mm.

Sir Leslie Ward was one of Vanity Fair's most prolific portraitists and caricaturists.

His distinctive portraits of politicians, aristocrats, businessmen and other prominent figures appeared under the pseudonym “Spy.”

The London National Portrait Gallery attributes more than 1,600 portraits to Ward or his associated production and specifically catalogues this work as a chromolithograph.

Artist: Sir Leslie Matthew Ward (1851–1922), “Spy”