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Marconi Watercolour, by Leslie Ward, England, c. 1906
Inventory Number: 71104
Number of documents: 3
Document Type: Miscellaneous Note
Document Heading: Inscription
Text:
"________ / by / Spy / 'Vanity Fair' 1905 / (Sir Leslie Ward" on obverse of frame. "WARD, Sir Leslie 'Spy' 1851-1922 / Painter of portrait and architectural subjects; caricatursit; engraver. / Eldest son of Edward Matthew W (q.v.). Studied architecture under S. / Smirke RA, and at the RA Schools. Like Pellegrini he drew caricatures / for many years for Vanity Fair, 1873-1909; his pseudonym was 'Spy'. / He also drew for The Graphic, and painted portraits in oil and / watercolour. Exzhib. from 1868 at the RA, GG and elsewhere, mainly / (at the RA) portraits and 'Hall at Knebworth, Herts., Seat of Lord / Lytton', 1870 and 'The Mourner: Study in Christ Church, Hants', / 1871. Published Forty Years of Spy 1915. His portraits are at the National Gallery, Dublin, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, the NPG, and Trinity College, Oxford." printed on additional label stuck to obverse of frame. "BECKERMAN'S [LOGO] / ALL TYPES OF PICTURE FRAMING / 521-3 London Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex / Telephone: SOUTHEND 46123" printed on additional label sutck to obverse of frame.
Document Type: Miscellaneous Note
Document Heading: Historical Background
Text:
This watercolur was displayed in Marconi's office and was mentioned by Kemp in his diary. 'Spy' was the pseudonym of the artist Sir Leslie Ward (1851-1922). Between 1873 and 1909 he painted his famous portraits for the magazine Vanity Fair which were distriubuted as prints in the magazine along with biographical sketches of the subject. The realistic appearance of the subject and casual comments made them very popular with the public.
Document Type: Printed Documentation
Document Heading: Printed Biography
Text:
The Spy print of Marconi appeared in 1905 and the biography was as follows:
"The true inventor labours in an attic, lives chiefly upon buns, sells his watch to obtain chemicals, and finally, after desperate privitation, succeeds in making a gigantic fortune for other people. Guglielmo Marconi invented in comfort, retained any small articles of jewellery in his possession, and never starved for more than five hours at a time. Therefore, he cannot expect our sympathy as an inventor though he excites our wonder as an electrician.
He is a quiet man with a slow, deliberate manner of speech and a shape of head which suggests an unusual brain. He has Irish blood in his veins, for his maternal grandfather, Andrew Jameson, married a daughter to a Marconi of Bologna, from which union was Guglielmo. Guglielmo, I may mention, is the Italian for Bill.
Bill was educated at Leghorn under Professor Rosa, and afterwards at Bologna University. He first attempted to send wires without wires upon his father's land to the farm of neighbours. Chemistry was his earliest study, but from it to electricity was but a short step. From Italy he came to England, testing his instruments between Penrath and Weston. Returning home again, he obtained the olan of an Italian cruiser, and continued his experiments with success.
What has been the result the world knows. His system is used exclusively at Lloyd's and in the British and Italian Navies. It has made the Atlantic still more endurable for tired brains by providing liners with a daily paper. He has alarmed the Chinese with his devices at Pekin and Tien-Tsin, forcing them to compose special prayers against foreign devils and all their works. He has been the cause of a petition from the Cornish fisherfolk who suggested the Government should put him down before his electrical sparks ruined the weather. Lastly, to fill the cup of his sins, he has sent messages across the Atlantic, and created amongst the shareholders in cable companies a feeling which resembles the personal uncertainty of chickens under a hawk...
He is a hard worker, displaying the greatest resolution before unexpected difficulties. He rides, cycles, motors. Of music he is a sincere admirer. Being half an Irishman, his lack of more humour is prodigious."
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