J. H. Taylor
“Spy” (Leslie Ward), Vanity Fair, 1906
No print size passed the check for this piece: at 8 x 10 in, Wrong shape: a 16% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.
See pieces like it you can buyJohn Henry Taylor — five-time Open champion, son of a labourer, and a founder of the professionals’ union — caricatured for Vanity Fair. Taylor dragged the professional golfer into respectability by organising them; Vanity Fair filed him among the men of the day. Spy draws him flat-footed and square — the famously unglamorous stance that kept winning. The plainest method in the field beat the prettiest.
- Maker
- “Spy” (Leslie Ward), Vanity Fair
- Date
- 1906
- Medium of the original
- Painting
- Original held by
- Vanity Fair, 26 April 1906
- Credit
- Vanity Fair, 26 April 1906
- Rights
- Cleared for print
- Catalogue number
- PA-00013
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 8 x 12 in | 58 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 11 x 14 in | Wrong shape: a 15% crop |
| 12 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 11% crop |
| 12 x 18 in | 38 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 16 x 24 in | 29 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 11% crop |
| 20 x 30 in | 23 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 19 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 11% crop |
| 36 x 48 in | Wrong shape: a 11% crop |
| 40 x 60 in | 11 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 468 x 700 px, srgb, sRGB IEC61966-2.1
- Tone
- Darks 50, lights 217 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 5.22
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