Kate Greenaway: Nostalgic Victorian Illustrations about the Regency Era

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.

Kate was born in March 1846 in Hoxton. At the age of twenty Kate produced her first printed piece.

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

Today many of her illustrated books can be seen online.  The Queen of the Pirate Isle, autored by Bret Harte in 1885 and offered on Project Gutenberg, is illustrated by Kate. Check it out at this link.

Illustration from The Queen of the Pirate Isle.

In 1884,  The Language of Flowers, considered by many to be the finest of Kate Greenaway’s books, was published. Only 19,500 copies were issued in all.  While Kate continued to paint watercolours for the rest of her life, she could not match the spectacular success of her earlier career. She died in 1901.

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