Joseph Brandard (1812-1863), Jack-in-the-Green, Hand-Coloured Lithograph

This hand-coloured lithograph, attributed to the Birmingham-born artist and lithographer Joseph Brandard, depicts the traditional English May Day custom of Jack-in-the-Green. The central composition features a figure encased in a large conical bough of greenery, paraded through a village by costumed participants including a figure in military-style regalia with a bicorn hat and a woman in a floral-trimmed yellow dress. The background displays historic half-timbered architecture and a church spire. According to the typewritten label on the reverse, this work is a sheet music title illustration, a genre for which Brandard was well-regarded. The print demonstrates the soft line quality characteristic of lithography with applied hand-colouring. No plate marks are visible. The artwork is presented in a modern black-lacquered stepped frame with a white inner slip. The reverse also features a handwritten note comparing the piece to examples in the British Museum collection.