Background

John Leech was born on August 29, 1817 in London, United Kingdom. He was a son of John Leech, who was the landlord of the London Coffee House and a man of cultivated interests. The father is said to have had no talent for drawing himself, but have had a good skill of guiding and helping the boy to develop his talent in drawing.

Education

During his lifetime, John Leech had no serious art training, except for the drawing lessons, which he received at Charterhouse School from Mr. Burgess. Also, at the age of sixteen, Leech began to study for the medical profession at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he won praise for the accuracy and beauty of his anatomical drawings.

Career

In 1840, Leech started to supply his illustrations to the "London Magazine". The following year, he was employed by a new humorous journal, founded by Mark Lemon and Henry Mayhew. Leech's comic drawings proved extremely popular and were one of the main reasons why the new magazine, Punch, became such a great success.

Over the next twenty-three years "Punch" or "The London Charivari" published some 3,000 of Leech's drawings and 600 cartoons. John Alexander Hammerton noted, that "John was a great attraction of Punch in those days, and his unrivalled power of graphic humour largely contributed to the successful founding of that unique journal".

Between 1842 and 1845, Leech produced a series of cartoons, such as "Cheap Clothing" and "The Agricultural Question", which are critical of the dubious morality of the capitalist system. In the cartoon "Mr. Punch's Big Cut, Cartoon, No. I: Substance and Shadow" (1843), often regarded as the world's first political cartoon, Leech, by implication, criticized contemporary artists for ignoring social issues, such as poverty.

In his later years, in addition to his contributions to Punch, Leech was finally able to make the connection with Charles Dickens, that he strove for earlier in his career. After being recommended by a mutual friend and artist, George Cruikshank, Dickens agreed to let Leech create four wood etchings for his latest short story "A Christmas Carol". These iconic illustrations were perfectly suited for Dickens' writing style, which like Leech’s drawings, were humorous, yet allegorical in nature.

After Leech befriended Dickens, they along with the co-founders of "Punch" would often have holiday throughout the British countryside. While visiting the seashore on the Isle of Wight, John was struck violently by a wave and suffered a severe head injury. In response to the subsequent swelling of Leech's cranium, his doctor prescribed, ironically, to have leeches placed on his temples to draw out the excess blood. But everything was in vain, as he passed away soon after that.

Achievements

• John Leech gained prominence for his illustrations, which he produced for Punch magazine. His most popular series of works are "Comic History of England" and "Comic History of Rome". Another well-known work is "Hints on Life, or How to Rise in Society".

Works

More photos

• illustration

  • In the underground

  • The Evil Conscience of Tarquin

  • Muddleby Junction

  • Horatius Cocles Defending the Bridge

  • There be land rats

  • Mrs. Sextus consoles herself with a Little Party

  • Most offensive

  • Tarquinius Superbus makes himself King

  • Discovery of the Head of Summanus

  • Our country cousins

  • None but the brave deserve the fair

  • Tout vient à qui sait attendre

  • Third class. To seat six

  • Trying position of an elderly gentleman

  • The Parting Breakfast

  • Cicero denouncing Catiline

  • Rhea Silvia

  • Notes of travel

  • A scarecrow

  • John's Arrival

  • Awful Appearance of the Shade of Remus to Romulus

  • Tilly Slowboy

  • The Meet

  • A railway collusion — a hint to station-masters

  • Debtor and Creditor. Seizure of Goods for a Debt

  • Zoology

  • Behind the scenes

  • Scrooge and Bob Cratchit

  • Self-possession of Fabricius, the Ambassador, under rather Trying Circumstances

  • La belle dame sans 'merci'

  • A family group — baby stirring the pudding

  • The Last of the Spirits

  • Aruns and Brutus

  • Curius Dentatus refusing the Magnificent Gift offered by the Samnite Ambassadors

  • The Dance

  • A man and a passenger

  • A dilemma

  • Marley’s Ghost

  • Virginia carried off by a Minion in the pay of Appius

  • Combat between the Horatii and Curiatii

  • Mucius Scævola before Porsenna

  • John's Reverie

  • The Romans walking off with the Sabine Women

  • Highly accommodating

  • A liberal measure

  • Caution during the mistletoe season

  • A pleasant holiday task

  • The level crossing

  • Pyrrhus Arrives in Italy with his Troupe

  • Under the mistletoe

  • Dignity and impudence

  • A reminder

  • Risks

  • A Lictor is sent to arrest Publilius Volero

  • Appearance in the Senate of a young Nobleman, named Meto

  • Reading between the lines

  • Ignorance and Want

  • A caution

  • The Citadel saved by the cackling of the Geese

  • Miss and mistletoe

  • A story without (polite) words

  • The snow

  • Titus threatening Pomponius

  • The underground railways

  • Snitchey and Craggs

  • Wait till the train stops

  • Cincinnatus chosen Dictator

  • Appius Claudius Punished by the People

  • Metius aggravating Titus Manlius

  • Roman Man-of-War, from a scarce Medal

  • Logic

  • Railway luxuries

  • A Curious Finish

  • A tragedy on the Great Northern

  • Remus jumping over the Walls

  • Mrs. Fielding's Lecture

  • Hannibal, whilst even yet a Child, swears Eternal Hatred to the Romans

  • Flaminius Restoring Liberty to Greece at the Isthmian Games

  • Christmas eve

  • Tarquinius Superbus has the Sibylline Books valued

  • Notes of travel

  • The Romans clothed by the Inhabitants of Capua

  • Clælia and her Companions escaping from the Etruscan Camp

  • John and Dot

  • Hold Har-r-r-d!

  • Smoking compartment

  • Compliments of the season

  • Death of Cluilius

  • A pig pen at a cattle show

  • Mr. Fezziwig’s Ball

  • Numa Pompilius remembering the Grotto

  • Caleb at Work

  • Miss Fabia, the Younger, astonished at the Patrician's Double-knock

  • After an eastertide festivity — on the inner circle

  • The Mother of the Gracchi

  • Scrooge Extinguishes the First of Three Spirits

  • A station on the north staffordshire line

  • The Gallant Curtius Leaping into the Gulf

  • Obvious

  • The Ambassadors purchasing Aesculapius

  • The first 'bradshaw'

  • Coriolanus parting from his Wife and Family

  • Romulus and Remus discovered by a Gentle Shepherd

  • Juvenile etymology

  • An exciting time

  • Schoolboys flogging the Schoolmaster

  • Marius discovered in the Marshes at Minturnæ

  • The twopenny tube

  • Scrooge’s Third Visitor

  • What's sauce for the goose

  • The Night of the Return

  • Skylight view — a railway station

  • A non-sequitur

  • Not quite up to date

  • Ghosts of Departed Usurers

  • Head and Hands will beat Heels

  • Railway amalgamation — a pleasant state of things

  • Terrific Combat between Titus Manlius and a Gaul of gigantic Stature

  • Romulus Consulting the Augury

Views

Leech catered to contemporary prejudices, such as anti-Americanism and antisemitism and supported acceptable social reforms.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "He demonstrates in every line he draws a more seeing eye. He has noticed how men tilt when moving and slump when sat, how they brace themselves, bend, and let themselves go; and he has noticed and noted innumerable faces and expressions." — John Harvey, an author
  
  "This death of poor Leech (I suppose) has put me out woefully. Yesterday and the day before I could do nothing; seemed for the time to have quite lost the power; and am only by slow degrees getting back into the track to-day." — Charles Dickens, an English writer and social critic

Connections

In May 1842, Leech married Anne Viola Eaton. Their marriage produced a daughter and a son.

Father:

John Leech

Wife:

Anne Viola Eaton

Friend:

William Makepeace Thackeray

Friend:

Charles Dickens

Friend:

George Cruikshank

References

• John Leech, Artist and Humorist: a Biographical Sketch
  2012
• John Leech: His Life and Work This is a book about life and work of John Leech. It also contains portraits and numerous Illustrations.
  2012