John Leech

Born in London in 1817, John Leech showed artistic talent from a very young age, with the sculptor John Flaxman reportedly advising his parents to let his genius follow its own bent. Though he initially pursued a medical career, even winning praise for his anatomical drawings at St Bartholomew's Hospital, Leech eventually gravitated towards art. His early works, such as "Etchings and Sketchings by A. Pen, Esq." in 1835, offered comic character studies of London street life.…