The Merchant Princes and the Makers of Money

Towards the end of the century, the genteel satire of the Victorian satire gave rise to a more irreverent approach to the depiction of financial figures—exemplified in the use of animal-like but humorous representations of parliamentary figures. The analysis of the depiction of the merchant princes covers initially the depiction of the two dominant British merchant banking families of the century, the Rothschilds and the Barings. This is reflected by the number of times when representatives of their respective families appeared in caricatures in Vanity Fair. Then there follows a section on other bankers reflecting a range of ‘financial’ activities, from stockbroking, private banking, merchant banking, as well as to Chancellors of the Exchequer, responsible for financial policies. The financiers in Vanity Fair are in the main depicted in the same professional garb (e.g., wearing a morning suit and a top hat) as non-financial figures in the periodical. The settings are staged to reflect the society events attended by these figures. As the century wears on the merchant princes are depicted occasionally in their professional settings.