From the exhibition
Lord Charles Russell — 'Men of the Day, No. 61'
James Tissot · Vanity Fair, 12 April 1873

James Tissot's chromolithograph presents Lord Charles James Fox Russell, lieutenant-colonel and Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, mid-stride in full court dress: black frock coat, knee breeches, and buckled shoes. He carries his top hat and a slim sword at his side while his right arm, rendered in exaggerated gold, bears the ornate mace of his ceremonial office — the visual joke of the piece, that gilded arm suggesting a man quite literally armed with institutional authority. The caption quotes Hamlet's 'fell sergeant, strict in his arrest,' casting Russell as Death's own bailiff, relentless and protocol-bound. No ethnic caricature is present. The figure's white hair and beard are slightly enlarged for comic effect, the standard Vanity Fair register of gentle, clubbable mockery rather than malice.
James Tissot Public domain