15 Facts About Leslie Ward

Sir Leslie Matthew Ward was a British portrait artist and caricaturist who over four decades painted 1,325 portraits which were regularly published by Vanity Fair, under the pseudonyms "Spy" and "Drawl".

Leslie Ward's mother came from a line of painters and engravers: her father was the engraver and miniature painter George Raphael Ward; her grandfather the celebrated animal painter James Ward.

Leslie Ward was niece of the portrait painter John Jackson and great-niece of the painter George Morland.

Leslie Ward's father was a gifted mimic who entertained Charles Dickens and other eminent guests.

Leslie Ward started caricaturing while still at school at Eton College, using his classmates and school masters as subjects.

At school Leslie Ward had been an unexceptional student, and after he left Eton in 1869 his father encouraged him to train as an architect.

Leslie 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, and 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.

Leslie Ward drew 1,325 cartoons for Vanity Fair between 1873 and 1911, many of which captured the personality of his subjects.

Leslie Ward worked methodically, often from memory, after observing his 'victims' at the racecourse, in the law courts, in church, in the academy lecture theatre, or in the lobby of the Houses of Parliament.

Leslie Ward was the most famous Vanity Fair artist; indeed, the whole genre of caricatures are often referred to as "Spy cartoons".

Leslie Ward worked for Vanity Fair for over forty years, producing more than half of the 2,387 caricatures published.

Leslie Ward's clubs included the Arts, the Orleans, the Fielding, the Lotus, the Punch Bowl, and the Beefsteak, where he was one of the original members.

In 1899, years after her father had refused him permission to marry her, Leslie Ward married the society hostess Judith Mary Topham-Watney, the only daughter of Major Richard Topham of the 4th Queen's Own Hussars.

Leslie 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".