Leslie Ward
Encyclopedia
Sir Leslie Matthew Ward (21 November 1851 – 15 May 1922), was a British
portrait
artist
and caricaturist who drew or painted numerous portraits which were regularly published by Vanity Fair, under the pseudonym
s "Spy" and "Drawl".
and Henrietta Ward
, and the great-grandson of the artist James Ward
. Although they had the same surname before marriage, Ward's parents were not related. Both were well-known history painters, his mother coming from a line of painters and engravers, including her father, the engraver and miniature painter George Raphael Ward, and her grandfather, the celebrated animal painter James Ward
. She was niece and great-niece respectively of the portrait painter John Jackson
and the painter George Morland
. Both parents had studios in their homes in Slough
in Buckinghamshire
and Kensington
in London
, where they regularly entertained the London artistic and literary elite. Ward's father was a gifted mimic who entertained Charles Dickens
and other eminent guests. Although they never gave their son formal training, they and their artistic friends encouraged the young Ward to draw, paint, and sculpt.
Ward had started caricaturing while still at school at Eton
in Windsor
, using his classmates and school masters
as subjects. In 1867 his bust of his brother was exhibited at the Royal Academy
in London. At school Ward had been an unexceptional student, and after he left Eton in 1869 his father encouraged him to train as an architect
. Ward was too afraid to tell his father that he wanted to be an artist and he spent an unhappy year in the office of the architect Sydney Smirke
, who was a family friend. The artist W.P. Frith
spoke to Ward's father on his behalf. after a great deal of arguing he finally agreed to support his son's training as an artist, and Ward entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1871. In 1873 he sent some of his work to Thomas Gibson Bowles
, four years after Vanity Fair was founded. This led to his being hired to replace 'Ape'
, who had temporarily left the magazine after falling out with Bowles. As his nom de crayon, Ward suggested to Bowles that he use the name 'Spy', meaning "to observe secretly, or to discover at a distance or in concealment".
himself, he became even more of a complimentary portraitist, moving from caricature to what he termed "characteristic portraits', a charge he acknowledged in his autobiography
Forty Years of 'Spy, published in 1915.
Ward worked methodically, often from memory, after observing his ‘victims’ at the racecourse, in the law courts, in church, in the university lecture theatre, or in the lobby of the Houses of Parliament
. Sometimes they came to his studio to pose in their robes or uniforms. A caricaturist, Ward believed, was born, not made. He observed, ‘A good memory, an eye for detail, and a mind to appreciate and grasp the whole atmosphere and peculiarity of the “subject” are of course essentials’. A caricature, he noted, should never depend on a physical defect, nor should it be forced. ‘If I could sum up the art in a sentence it would be that caricature should be a comic impression with a kindly touch, and always devoid of vulgarity’.
In an 1897 interview given by Oliver Armstrong Fry (editor of Vanity Fair) to Frank Banfield of Cassell's Magazine, it was reported that Ward received a sum of between £300 and £400 for a portrait. Ward was the most famous Vanity Fair artist; indeed, the whole genre tends to be named after him, the caricatures often being referred to as 'Spy Cartoons'. He worked for Vanity Fair for over forty years, producing more than half of the 2,387 caricatures published.
, the Orleans, the Fielding, the Lotus, the Punch Bowl, and the Beefsteak
, where he was one of the original members. There he sketched many of his victims. In 1899, years after her father had refused him permission to marry her, Ward married the Society
hostess Judith Mary Topham-Watney, the only daughter of Major Richard Topham of the 4th Queen's Own Hussars
. They had one daughter, Sidney.
Ward's last cartoon for Vanity Fair appeared in June 1911 as he had recently begun to contribute his ‘characteristic portraits' to The World and Mayfair. He supplemented his income by painting portraits. In 1918 he was knight
ed. Ward prophesied that ‘...when the history of the Victorian Era
comes to be written in true perspective, the most faithful mirror and record of representative men and spirit of their times will be sought and found in Vanity Fair’. After a nervous breakdown Ward died suddenly of heart failure at 4 Dorset Square, Marylebone
, London on 15 May 1922 and was buried on 18 May at Kensal Green Cemetery
in London
.
About 300 of his original drawings for Vanity Fair are in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and caricaturist who drew or painted numerous portraits which were regularly published by Vanity Fair, under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s "Spy" and "Drawl".
Background
Ward was one of eight children of artists Edward Matthew WardEdward Matthew Ward
Edward Matthew Ward was an English Victorian narrative painter best known for his murals in the Palace of Westminster depicting episodes in British history from the English Civil War to the Glorious Revolution.-Early career:...
and Henrietta Ward
Henrietta Ward
Henrietta Mary Ada Ward was a notable English historical and genre painter of the Victorian era and the early twentieth century.-Life and work:...
, and the great-grandson of the artist James Ward
James Ward (artist)
James Ward , R.A., was a painter, particularly of animals, and an engraver.-Biography:Born in London, and younger brother of William Ward the engraver, James Ward was influenced by many people, but his career is conventionally divided into two periods: until 1803, his single greatest influence was...
. Although they had the same surname before marriage, Ward's parents were not related. Both were well-known history painters, his mother coming from a line of painters and engravers, including her father, the engraver and miniature painter George Raphael Ward, and her grandfather, the celebrated animal painter James Ward
James Ward (artist)
James Ward , R.A., was a painter, particularly of animals, and an engraver.-Biography:Born in London, and younger brother of William Ward the engraver, James Ward was influenced by many people, but his career is conventionally divided into two periods: until 1803, his single greatest influence was...
. She was niece and great-niece respectively of the portrait painter John Jackson
John Jackson (painter)
John Jackson was an English painter.Jackson was born in Lastingham, Yorkshire, and started his career as an apprentice tailor to his father, who opposed the artistic ambitions of his son...
and the painter George Morland
George Morland
George Morland was an English painter of animals and rustic scenes.-Life:Morland was born in London, the 3rd son of Henry Robert Morland , artist, engraver and picture restorer...
. Both parents had studios in their homes in Slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
and Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where they regularly entertained the London artistic and literary elite. Ward's father was a gifted mimic who entertained Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
and other eminent guests. Although they never gave their son formal training, they and their artistic friends encouraged the young Ward to draw, paint, and sculpt.
Ward had started caricaturing while still at school at Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
in Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
, using his classmates and school masters
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
as subjects. In 1867 his bust of his brother was exhibited at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
in London. At school Ward had been an unexceptional student, and after he left Eton in 1869 his father encouraged him to train as an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. Ward was too afraid to tell his father that he wanted to be an artist and he spent an unhappy year in the office of the architect Sydney Smirke
Sydney Smirke
Sydney Smirke, architect, was born in London, England, the younger brother of Sir Robert Smirke, also an architect. Their father, also Robert Smirke, had been a well-known 18th Century painter.Sydney Smirke's works include:...
, who was a family friend. The artist W.P. Frith
William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith , was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1852...
spoke to Ward's father on his behalf. after a great deal of arguing he finally agreed to support his son's training as an artist, and Ward entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1871. In 1873 he sent some of his work to Thomas Gibson Bowles
Thomas Gibson Bowles
Thomas Gibson Bowles , generally known as Tommy Bowles, was the founder of the magazines The Lady and the English Vanity Fair, a sailor and the maternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters.-Parents:...
, four years after Vanity Fair was founded. This led to his being hired to replace 'Ape'
Carlo Pellegrini
Carlo Pellegrini "Ape", was an Italian caricaturist, born in Capua of aristocratic stock. His father came from an ancient land-owning family, while his mother was descended from the Medici. From 1869 to 1889 he was a caricaturist for Vanity Fair magazine, a leading journal of London Society...
, who had temporarily left the magazine after falling out with Bowles. As his nom de crayon, Ward suggested to Bowles that he use the name 'Spy', meaning "to observe secretly, or to discover at a distance or in concealment".
Vanity Fair
Ward drew 1,325 cartoons for Vanity Fair between 1873 and 1911, many of which captured the personality of his subjects. His portraits of royalty, nobility, and women, however, were over-sympathetic, if not sycophantic. Later, as he became a member of SocietyUpper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
himself, he became even more of a complimentary portraitist, moving from caricature to what he termed "characteristic portraits', a charge he acknowledged in his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
Forty Years of 'Spy, published in 1915.
Ward worked methodically, often from memory, after observing his ‘victims’ at the racecourse, in the law courts, in church, in the university lecture theatre, or in the lobby of the Houses of Parliament
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
. Sometimes they came to his studio to pose in their robes or uniforms. A caricaturist, Ward believed, was born, not made. He observed, ‘A good memory, an eye for detail, and a mind to appreciate and grasp the whole atmosphere and peculiarity of the “subject” are of course essentials’. A caricature, he noted, should never depend on a physical defect, nor should it be forced. ‘If I could sum up the art in a sentence it would be that caricature should be a comic impression with a kindly touch, and always devoid of vulgarity’.
In an 1897 interview given by Oliver Armstrong Fry (editor of Vanity Fair) to Frank Banfield of Cassell's Magazine, it was reported that Ward received a sum of between £300 and £400 for a portrait. Ward was the most famous Vanity Fair artist; indeed, the whole genre tends to be named after him, the caricatures often being referred to as 'Spy Cartoons'. He worked for Vanity Fair for over forty years, producing more than half of the 2,387 caricatures published.
Later years
Ward's Clubs included the ArtsThe Arts Club
The Arts Club is a London private members club founded in 1863 by, amongst others, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and Lord Leighton in Dover Street, Mayfair, London, England...
, the Orleans, the Fielding, the Lotus, the Punch Bowl, and the Beefsteak
Beefsteak Club
Beefsteak Club is the name, nickname and historically common misnomer applied by sources to several 18th and 19th century male dining clubs that celebrated the beefsteak as a symbol of patriotic and often Whig concepts of liberty and prosperity....
, where he was one of the original members. There he sketched many of his victims. In 1899, years after her father had refused him permission to marry her, Ward married the Society
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
hostess Judith Mary Topham-Watney, the only daughter of Major Richard Topham of the 4th Queen's Own Hussars
4th Queen's Own Hussars
The 4th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars in 1958....
. They had one daughter, Sidney.
Ward's last cartoon for Vanity Fair appeared in June 1911 as he had recently begun to contribute his ‘characteristic portraits' to The World and Mayfair. He supplemented his income by painting portraits. In 1918 he was knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed. Ward prophesied that ‘...when the history of the Victorian Era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
comes to be written in true perspective, the most faithful mirror and record of representative men and spirit of their times will be sought and found in Vanity Fair’. After a nervous breakdown Ward died suddenly of heart failure at 4 Dorset Square, Marylebone
Marylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
, London on 15 May 1922 and was buried on 18 May at Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
About 300 of his original drawings for Vanity Fair are in the National Portrait Gallery, London.