Leslie Ward

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Sir Leslie Ward by PAL (Jean de Paleologue 1855-1942)

Sir Leslie Matthew Ward (21 November 1851 – 15 May 1922), was a British portrait artist and caricaturist. The son of artists Edward 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 the pseudonym "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.

[edit] Gallery

Portrait of Hamo Thornycroft by Leslie Ward for Vanity Fair magazine	Reginald McKenna	William Maynard Gomm	George du Maurier
James Edwin Thorold Rogers	Joseph Barnby	W. S. Gilbert	Admiral Sir Compton Edward Domvile