- Leslie Ward
Sir Leslie Matthew Ward (
21 November 1851 –15 May 1922 ), was a Britishportrait artist andcaricaturist . The son of artistsEdward Matthew Ward and Henrietta Ward, and grandson of the artist James Ward, he drew or painted numerous portraits which were regularly published by "Vanity Fair", under thepseudonym "Spy".He had started caricatures while still at school, using his classmates and tutors as subjects. Spy's father had planned a career in architecture for him, but his growing popularity as a portrait artist determined otherwise. 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.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. He worked for "Vanity Fair" for over forty years, producing more than half of the 2387 caricatures published. Ward spent days stalking his subjects in their favourite haunts, and drew them from memory later on.
See
Vanity Fair caricatures .Gallery
External links
*Commons
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp04701&role=art&page=1 National Portrait Gallery - Index of "Spy" portraits]
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp04701&page=1&role=sit National Portrait Gallery - Index of portraits of Sir Leslie Ward]
* [http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/ward_sir_leslie_spy_hactheearlofdenbigh.htm Sir Leslie Ward biography]
* [http://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/spy/subs.htm Spy cartoons]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
