(4) 19th Century Vanity Fair Lithograph Caricatures of Prominent Gentlemen. Four antique Vanity Fair lithographs depicting caricatures of prominent 19th-century gentlemen, including a legal figure in a traditional wig and gown. Framed.

Overall Size: 20 1/4 x 14 3/4 in. 

Sight Size: 14 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. 

Carlo Pellegrini (1839–1889), better known by the pseudonym "Ape," was an Italian-born artist whose elegant and witty caricatures became the defining visual style of the British magazine Vanity Fair. After settling in London in 1864, Pellegrini was commissioned in 1869 to create the magazine's first color caricature, a celebrated portrait of Benjamin Disraeli that launched a new era of illustrated journalism. Over the next two decades, he produced hundreds of incisive yet sophisticated portraits of leading politicians, aristocrats, writers, artists, and public figures, establishing himself as one of Victorian Britain's most influential caricaturists. His distinctive blend of keen observation, psychological insight, and graceful draftsmanship made his work both a social chronicle and an enduring artistic legacy.

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