Stephen Ward - Portrait of a Gentleman in Clerical Dress, 20th century charcoal with chalk, signed and inscribed 'Devonshire St, London', 44.5cm x 31.5cm, within a Hogarth style frame. Note: Stephen Thomas Ward was an osteopath and artist who played a central role in the 1963 Profumo affair, a scandal in British politics that led to the resignation of John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War. Profumo admitted to having an extramarital affair with Christine Keeler, a young woman associated with Ward. Keeler's connections to both Profumo and Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attache, raised concerns about potential national security risks. Ward, who mentored Keeler, became a focal point of public attention when the affair came to light. He faced charges related to immorality offenses, which he perceived as unjust given his belief that he was being made a scapegoat. In the midst of his trial, where he was found guilty of living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies, Ward took his own life by a fatal overdose. An eponymous musical about Stephen Ward's life, with music written by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, was premiered in London in 2013.