"Amends" Vanity Fair caricature lithograph of a Statesman c1875.

by Carlo Pellegrini (Ape)

Vanity Fair caricature of The Rt.Hon.Stephen Cave, M.P. for Statesmen. No. CLXXXVI (186) on October 3 1875.

Text with this lithograph states "The son of a very odd and very rich West India proprietor Mr. Cave was nevertheless fortunate enough in his youth to appreciate the hardship of want of cash and the advantages of that hard work by which it is to be made. He was sent to Harrow, he was sent to Oxford, he was sent to the Bar and made a show of taking seriously to law by going the Western Circuit. But as the law did not take to him he left it, married himself into a premature character for steadiness, and was provided with a decent post in a West Indian firm..."  "as a safe steady plodding person certain to be very wealthy some day and all the better for being no conjurer. Wherefore they promptly made him a Director of the Bank of England and of the London Dock Company... To console him he was appointed vice-President of the Board of Trade and a Privy Councillor; and now he inherited the paternal fortune and became a rich man.... although he has long ceased all connection with law, he has been made Judge Advocate General and paymaster to the Forces. He is a steady, quiet, careful man, certain to succeed by mere laps of time in a country where dullness is held to be the only safe quality. Withal he is good-natured, fifty-four and a fellow of the Zoological and Geological Societies."

Vanity Fair was a weekly magazine of social comment, published in London from 1868 to 1914. With eight to ten pages each issue, Vanity Fair magazine's popularity was guaranteed with the inclusion of an amusing 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 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. They were printed by the eminent lithographer, Vincent Brooks (1814-1885).

Page size 355 x 230 (14 x 9 inches). Slight soiling at top and base, a black spot at left, and Indian ink "39" at top right.