Original watercolour 'Mr Jorrocks takes a Bath' John Leech / Robert Surtees 1854

LEECH, John. Mr Jorrocks’s Bath. (Original watercolour for Handley Cross by R. S. Surtees). London, c.1854.
 
Pencil and watercolour on paper, 160 × 100 mm image, mounted and framed 320 × 280 mm overall. Signed in pencil lower left. paper lightly toned, faint handling marks, image clear and colours well preserved; framed in period-style mount and wood frame. Near fine overall. 
 
An original watercolour by John Leech illustrating one of the most celebrated comic moments from Handley Cross; or, Mr Jorrocks’s Hunt (1854), the classic sporting novel by R. S. Surtees. The drawing shows the red-faced grocer-sportsman Mr Jorrocks in the midst of disaster as his attempt to take a cold bath ends in pandemonium — plunging head-first into the water as startled guests and servants rush to his aid.
 
Executed at the height of Leech’s career, this drawing formed part of his series of illustrations for the first edition of Handley Cross.
 
Provenance: J. S. Maas & Son Ltd., London (dealer’s label to verso, stock reference W11679/3