Leech’s work, along with that of his fellow Punch artists, was gentler and designed not to offend the sensibilities of the magazine’s readers. The previous generation of visual satirists, personified by James Gillray, delighted in grotesque, scurrilous and often scatological illustrations, which even today can shock in the ferocity of their attacks on public figures. Leech became a significant figure in Victorian society and culture, in some ways embodying the recent shift in taste in caricatures and journalism in general. ![]() It was A Christmas Carol, and its vivid illustrations, which cemented in the public’s mind the idea that it was wrong to work on Christmas Day – something that lead to the Bank Holidays Act.įrontispiece of A Christmas Carol. But a new film about the writing of Dickens’ masterpiece, which features Simon Callow as the cartoonist and book illustrator, has brought Leech back like a ghost of cartoons past.Īlthough Dickens is often credited with inventing the modern idea of Christmas, Leech should certainly take some of the credit (or blame). A huge star in his time, Leech’s fame has receded like many of his Victorian contemporaries. The artist who illustrated the scene was John Leech. Between them is a candle – its cold, cruel light illuminating one of the best-known and most beloved stories of its (and our) time: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. ![]() To his left is the ghost of Jacob Marley, the chains that encircle him a testament to his life of cold-hearted avarice. Scrooge sits by the fire, warming his hands on its meagre heat.
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