Women in fancy dress representing The Sphere magazine at the Epilogue Ball at the close of the first International Advertising Convention held at Olympia, London. Illustration by Fortunino Matania in The Sphere, 26 July 1924

In the second of our occasional series looking at the titles in the prestigious Illustrated London News archive, The Sphere magazine steps forward and takes a bow.

Launched in 1900, at the dawn of the new century, The Sphere, subtitled, 'The Empire's Weekly', followed the tradition of Victorian periodicals, but its tone and style felt fresh and modern, with pictures taking centre stage, and spreads an accessible combination of photographs, diagram and concise text. It's founder, Clement Shorter had been editor of The Illustrated London News during the 1890s and a year after launching The Sphere would go on to introduce a 'more frivolous' younger sibling, The Tatler. From the beginning, Shorter sought to ensure The Sphere's coverage was both wide-ranging and as truthful as possible, stating early on:

'The centre of The Sphere will be London but its surface will hold pictures and thoughts from all lands… showing things as they are and not how they might be.'

This multi-faceted approach was clearly a winning formula. The Sphere ran for an impressive 64 years, entertaining readers with a smorgasbord of subjects ranging from fashion to foreign affairs, through an engaging mix of photography and illustration. While Shorter was keen to harness the power of the photographic image, he remained committed to employing news artists, using fine illustrators such as Christopher Clark, Donald MacPherson, Philip Dadd and Paul Thiriat.

Pre-eminent among them was the Italian illustrator Fortunino Matania, the magazine's 'special artist' since 1904. His Sphere depictions of London life, large scale events such as the 1911 Coronation and Delhi Durbar, historical reconstructions and of course, the Great War were breathtakingly realistic. He visited the Front several times, and The Sphere was keen to emphasise the authenticity of his, and all their published illustrations. It refuted a Daily Telegraph assertion that 'war pictures have no relation to accuracy', declaring that 'every detail of the above drawings is guaranteed to be severely accurate'.

We currently have over 2,600 images scanned from our full run of The Sphere. Click here to see a selection. And do get in touch if we can help with anything either by email at pictures@maryevans.com or by telephone: 020 8318 0034.