Cleveland Museum of Art

Sketch for "Mrs. Pottles Can't Abide a Crowd"

John Leech

Date

1856

Medium

graphite

Culture

England, 19th century

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Created for a cartoon in Punch magazine, this satirical sketch shows an older woman climbing to her house’s roof to see fireworks rather than face the street crowds. Illustrated magazines like Punch played an important role in shaping Victorian visual culture. They also offered artists a way to reach wider audiences and a source of steady income. John Leech joined Punch soon after its founding in 1841. His weekly sketches helped shape the magazine’s light humor, which was aimed at the middle class. Leech’s depictions of everyday people and use of sequential scenes were important precedents for modern comics.

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