Portrait of Carlo Pellegrini, Caricaturist

Portrait of Carlo Pellegrini, Caricaturist, painted in 1879 and now in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, depicts the Italian-born caricaturist who worked for Vanity Fair magazine in London under the pen name 'Ape.' Pellegrini (1839-1889) was one of the most celebrated caricaturists of the Victorian era, producing over three hundred caricature portraits of prominent figures for Vanity Fair from 1869 until his death. Bastien-Lepage's 1879 London visit brought him into contact with the cosmopolitan world of London journalism and illustration, and the portrait of Pellegrini documents this cross-cultural encounter. The National Gallery of Ireland's acquisition is appropriate: Pellegrini spent much of his career in London and was part of the Anglo-Irish cultural world. The painting sits at a fascinating intersection: a naturalist painter producing a serious portrait of a man whose art was comic exaggeration — in a sense, a study in contrasting modes of representation, with Bastien-Lepage's direct naturalism implicitly commenting on Pellegrini's satirical distortion.

Bastien-Lepage applies his full naturalist seriousness to a sitter known for wit and exaggeration, creating an implicit dialogue between the earnest directness of French naturalism and the comic tradition of caricature. The face is handled with particular care, Pellegrini's own expressive physiognomy rendered with respect.