Set of Three Vanity Fair Statesmen – British Political Figures, London 1870

Title: Set of Three Vanity Fair Portraits – Statesmen and Man of the Day, London 1870 Description: This original set of three hand-colored Vanity Fair chromolithographs dates from e...

Title: Set of Three Vanity Fair Portraits – Judges, Sovereign and Man of the Day, 1870 Description: This striking set of three original Vanity Fair chromolithographs dates from late...

Collection of 3 Vanity Fair Political “Spy”Prints A good collection of coloured prints dating from 1896, 1897 and 1904, mounted and glazed in black frames The prints are in good co...

This is a pair of Vanity Fair color chromolithograph caricatures of the famous and beloved English musical composers and playwrights Gilbert and Sullivan by Sir Leslie Ward (Spy) (1851-1922) and Carlo Pellegini (Ape) (1839-1889). The portrait of Arthur Sullivan entitled "English Music" was published in Vanity Fair on March 14, 1874 and W. S. Gilbert entitled "Patience" was published in the Men of the Day portion of Vanity Fair on May 21, 1881. Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900) is regarded as the finest British composer of the 19th century. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Sullivan composed 23 operas, 13 major orchestral works, eight choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous hymns and other church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. The best known of his hymns and songs include "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord". Sir William Schwenck (WS) Gilbert (1836-1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert's creative output included over 75 plays and libretti, and numerous short stories, poems and lyrics, both comic and serious. These Vanity Fair portraits of Gilbert and Sullivan are presented in identical ornate black wood frames and cream-colored French mats with grey inner mats. The frames each measure 21.75" x 16" x .88". The frames and prints are in excellent condition. From 1868 until February 5, 1914, Vanity Fair, a weekly magazine of social, literary and political content, was very popular in Victorian and later, Edwardian England. The most popular of its features were the full page caricatures of famous men and women of the day which included their biographies, which remains the magazines lasting legacy. Vanity Fair's most famous artists were Carlo Pellegrini who signed his works “Ape” and Leslie Ward, known as “Spy”, but many other artists and writers contributed caricatures and prose to the publication, including Lewis Carroll, Willie Wilde, P. G. Wodehouse, Jessie Pope and Bertram Fletcher Robinson. Thomas Gibson...