Kate Greenaway was a Victorian artist who drew incidents from every day life in the Regency era from a nostalgic point of view. Although infused with Victorian sensibility, her drawings are charming and still quite popular today. A contemporary illustrator, Walter Crane, said about her:
The grace and charm of her children and young girls were quickly recognized, and her treatment of quaint early nineteenth century costume, prim gardens, and the child-like spirit of her designs in an old-world atmosphere, though touched with conscious modern ‘aestheticism,’ captivated the public in a remarkable way.
For Crafters: Find free Kate Greenaway clip art at this site.
She also started doing greeting card, calendar and book illustrations. One of her card designs sold over 25,000 copies in just a few weeks. Although she was paid only 3 pounds she was starting to be noticed. Her first book [Under the Window] was produced in collaboration with Edmund Evans, with whom her father had apprenticed. Evans spared no expense and the 20,000 copies sold almost immediately so a second printing of 70,000 was produced. – Kate Greenaway
Illustration from The Queen of the Pirate Isle.
Language of Flowers, Illustrated by Kate Greenaway, 1884
Kate Greenaway by David Levine
More links: Listed in this section are a series of books with Kate’s masterful illustrations.
- Biography: Kate Greenaway
- Description of Kate Greenaway by a contemporary
- Conceiving the Child: British illustrator Kate Greenaway’s determining influence on the graphic work of Mary Cassatt.
- Little Ann, A book illustrated by Kate Greenaway
- Marigold Garden, by Kate Greenaway
- Book of Games, Kate Greenaway
- A is for Apple Pie, Kate Greenaway
- Other Greenaway illustrated books at Illuminated Books
Jane Austen's World 