As an undergraduate at Oxford – or ‘the little city of learning and laughter’ – Beerbohm had established himself as a wit, caricaturist and man-about-town. This attitude pervaded all aspects of his life, and after leaving the Oxford aesthetes behind, situated him well to join William Rothenstein, Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas at their Café Royal table. From here, Beerbohm could portray his friends with the added confidence of being part of their circle himself.

Beerbohm’s figures were often introduced into real or imagined situations; the range of his subjects was wide, though, among his favourites there were Edward, Prince of Wales, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, Edmund Gosse and the Rothschilds. Usually drawn in pen, ink and wash – occasionally with a little colour added – these caricatures demonstrated Beerbohm’s fastidious eye for detail.

In the year of this drawing, Beerbohm had a show of 100 caricatures at Leicester Galleries. His subject in this drawing, the artist James Pryde and collaborator for Beerbohm’s Book of Rascals (1901/2), was known for painting staged, sweeping views of architectural grandeur. While theatrical curtains frame a pompous Pryde centre-stage, a little old lady hobbles into view behind him.