Artworks: cartoons & caricatures: 'Vanity Fair' collection

Since early in the 19th century, the Rothschilds have been almost constantly in the public eye, across Europe and beyond, but the public profile of the family has swung wildly with changing times and in different countries. Caricature provides an effective barometer of those varying moods and attitudes. Caricature highlights moments when the family has been the butt of virulent anti-semitism or has been identified with unpopular causes or movements and attacked as a readily accessible symbol. Equally, it can reflect moods of gentle - even affectionate - pinpointing of eccentricity or idiosyncracy, and it reflects and comments on significant moments in history in which the Rothschilds have been involved. 

Vanity Fair chromolithographs

Vanity Fair was a magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1914. Subtitled "A Weekly Show of Political, Social and Literary Wares", it was founded by Thomas Gibson Bowles, who aimed to expose the contemporary vanities of Victorian society. The first issue appeared in London on 7 November 1868. It offered its readership articles on fashion, current events, the theatre, books, social events and the latest scandals, together with serial fiction, word games and other trivia. Thomas Allinson bought the magazine in 1911 from Frank Harris, by which time it was failing financially. He failed to revive it and the final issue of Vanity Fair in this guise appeared on 5 February 1914, after which it was merged into Hearth and Home.

Gibson Bowles invited readers to recognise the vanities of human existence through the magazine’s prose and coloured caricatures. A full-page, colour chromolithograph of a contemporary celebrity or dignitary appeared in most issues, and it is for these caricatures that Vanity Fair of the period is best known. Subjects included artists, sportsmen, royalty, statesmen, scientists, authors, actors, soldiers, religious personalities, businessmen and scholars. More than two thousand of these images appeared, and they are considered the chief cultural legacy of the magazine, forming a pictorial record of the period. They were produced by an international group of artists. Of these, ’Ape’, ‘Spy’ and ‘Lib’ were the most prolific. ‘Ape’ (Italia for 'bee') was the pseudonym of the caricaturist Carlo Pellegrini (1839-1889). ‘Spy’ was the pseudonym of the portrait artist and caricaturist Sir Leslie Matthew Ward (1851-1922), and ‘Lib’ was the pseudonym of Liborio Prosperi (1858-1928). Over four decades, ‘Spy’ produced 1,325 portraits which were regularly published by Vanity Fair. Early portraits were almost always full-length, and had a strong element of caricature and usually distorted the proportions of the body, with a very large head and upper body. Later, as he became socially accepted in the society in which he moved to gain access to his subjects, and not wishing to cause offence, his style developed into what he called ‘characteristic portraits’, being less of a caricature and more of an actual portrait of the subject, using realistic body proportions. Max Beerbohm, Melchiorre Delfico, the Florentine artist and critic Adriano Cecioni, the French artist James Tissot, and the American Thomas Nast also produced portraits for the magazine series.

The portraits were produced as watercolours and turned into chromolithographs for publication in the magazine. Many were subsequently reproduced on high quality paper and sold as prints. Most were printed by Vincent, Brooks, Day & Son, although towards the end of the series some were printed by Bemrose, Dalziel Ltd and Hemschel Colourtype. Such was Ward's influence in the genre that all Vanity Fair caricatures of this period are sometimes referred to as 'Spy cartoons', regardless of the name of the actual artist.

The Rothschild Archive collection of Vanity Fair cartoons

The Archive holds  a small collection of examples from  the series, featuring members of the Rothschild family and notable 'men of the day'. A full list of cartoons, with dates of publication, the subject, the artist, the caption and an image of cartoon will be found online here.

This collection was brought together by the Archive from a  variety of sources. The majority of the cartoons of members of the Rothschild family came from the NMR Secretary’s Department, and were framed for hanging at New Court. Other examples have been gifted to the Archive by private donors.