Oh! The Merry, Merry Month of May!!!
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
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
John Leech, a prominent British caricaturist and best known for his contributions to the satirical magazine Punch, created this lively watercolor during the height of the Victorian era. exuberant title, “Oh! The Merry, Month of May!!!,” a humorous or gently ironic take on springtime festivities, courtship rituals, or seasonal social customs popular in mid-nineteenth-century Britain.ech’s work often captured the quirks of contemporary society with wit and warmth, making this piece a charming window into the period’s cultural mood. Executed in watercolor and pen and brown ink over graphite on cream wove paper, the drawing combines fluid color washes with crisp linear detail—a technique well suited to both finished illustrations and preparatory sketches. Measuring just over 13 by 10 inches, the intimate scale invites close viewing, revealing Leech’s skillful balance of spontaneity and precision. Now housed in the Prints and Drawings department of the Art Institute of Chicago, the work exemplifies the vibrant tradition of British graphic humor that flourished in the 1850s.
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...