From the exhibition
Philipp Graf von Brunnow, 'Men of the Day No. 15'
Carlo Pellegrini · Vanity Fair, December 3, 1870

Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') renders the veteran Russian diplomat Baron de Brunnow — long-serving ambassador to the Court of St. James's — as a portly, self-satisfied figure in a long brown frock coat, top hat held at his side, cane in hand. The caricature exaggerates his bulk and his slightly smug, sideways glance. The caption, *'One of the most precious products of political miscegenation,'* is the plate's pointed argument: Brunnow spent decades navigating between Russian imperial interests and British society, becoming so embedded in London life that he seemed to belong to neither power fully.
Carlo Pellegrini Public domain