Fine Original Leech Drawing
“Run Bill—run and bring Isabella—heres a chimbley on fire.”.
[c. 1850].
Price: $900.00
About the item
Leech, John. Pen and ink and watercolor on paper, initialled “JL”, mounted in a larger sheet of paper, matted. 1 vols. Image approx. 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 inches. Fine Original Leech Drawing.
Item #14104
John Leech (1817-1864) was one of the most prolific and successful of the English artists and caricaturists of the mid 19th century. “His humour was like his talent, gentle, warm-hearted and positive, his world, the ups and downs of middle class life, the sports of the squirearchy, and the peccadilloes of army officers and undergraduates” (Houfe). The conventions of social humor he established with his first contributions to the newly founded Punch, in 1841, lasted into the 1920s, but his greatest fame came through his book illustrations, particularly those for Surtees's sporting novels. “Extravagantly praised by Ruskin, Leech's often careless but never crude drawings have survived in charm and humour to give us a refreshing glimpse of mid-Victorian society.” (Houfe).
