The zombie to end all zombies

I hope to have a post up in a day or two about a rather interesting (and completely fallen-through-the-cracks) Jewish novel, Left to Starve, which is, I think, partly a response to Daniel Deronda.  However, the novel also features the most drastic case of zombification I've encountered in some time.  At one point, one of our protagonists, Dr. Mendes, introduces a young man to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who died in 1792.  I was a bit taken aback by this, as there had been no sign of Left to Starve being a historical novel.  Needless to say, I was even further taken aback when Dr. Mendes wound up in Parliament at novel's end, which would not have been possible for a devout Jew before 1858.  I wonder how many artistic brains Sir Joshua managed to consume?