Oh! The Merry, Merry Month of May!!!
John Leech
1850/59
Medium
Watercolor and pen and brown ink, over graphite, on cream wove paper
Dimensions
33.6 × 25.9 cm (13 1/4 × 10 1/4 in.)
Classification
watercolor
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
39076
About the Artist
John Leech · 1817–1864
John Leech (1817–1864) was born in London and educated at Charterhouse, where he formed a lifelong friendship with William Makepeace Thackeray. He briefly studied medicine before abandoning it for art, publishing his first comic character studies from London street life as early as 1835. Though largely self-taught as an illustrator, he absorbed the robust tradition of English caricature establishe...