Kate Greenaway

Catherine Greenaway (1846-1901) is one of most influential illustrators of all times. Today she is known as Kate Greenaway and one of two most prestigious honors in the world of children’s illustrations is called by her name. Kate Greenaway Medal is award given by CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and once a year it is awarded to illustrator of ‘distinguished illustration of children’s book’.

Who was Kate Greenaway? She studied in Royal College of Art in London, her illustrations were engraved by legendary Edmund Evans, her contemporaries were Randolph Caldecott and Walter Crane, she never married and she died of breast cancer. Her legacy is astonishing but if we can point out only one of her characteristics, we must note her pictures of children (boys and girls) in typical dresses which were probably inspired by portraits by John Hoppner from late 18th century.

This style was so influential ladies from 19th century started to dress their children to look as ‘fashionable’ as kids on Kate Greenaway’s illustrations!

Let’s look at some of her signature works, all in public domain, all found on Archive.org:

Under the Window was a collection of verses about children was a bestseller. It was published in 1878 and after that Kate Greenaway became established brand.

Under the window

The illustration above is from inside title page. These dresses will stay with children drawn by Greenaway for good.

Indeed it is true

See her signature in left down corner?

School is over

The school is over!

Little Polly

Little Polly, will you go a walking today?

In go-cart so tiny

Kids are playing with a tiny go-cart

Going out

You are going out to tea today…

Poor Dicky

Poor Dicky is dead.

Up you go

Another scene from children’s play from Kate Greenaway’s book Under the Window. Did I mention she wrote verses too? Actually she was pretty solid poet although we will remember her as illustrator forever.

Look over the wall

Shall we join the masses, look over the wall and check some of KG’s other works?

A Day in a Child’s Life was also published by Routledge (1882) and engraved and printed by Edmund Evans. This is a book of songs, written by different authors. Music for all songs is work of Myles B. Foster (text was published alongside with notes) and illustrations are of course done by Miss Kate Greenaway.

Kate Greenaway – A day in a child’s life

Another classic illustration by Kate Greenaway with a kid in pastoral setting.

Waking

We have to start with waking.

Playtime

Woa, it’s playtime!

Grace before meals

Grace before meals.

A song of a doll

A song of a doll – next part of a day in child’s life.

Tired

Child is tired…

Child’s prayer

Time for another prayer.

Sleeping

And time for sleep.

With this scene we are leaving A Day in a Child’s Life. A Apple Pie is (as the subtitle suggests) an old fashioned alphabet book. The idea behind the book from 1886 is simple – ‘adventures of an apple pie from A to Z’. Let’s start with a cover!

A Apple Pie

The same picture is available in black and white, suitable for some coloring projects.

A apple pie coloring page

Next letters follow…

Bit it

Cut it

Dealt it

Eat it

You got the picture, right? We’ll skip next letters and make a shortcut to T:

Took it

And the final scene with all the unfriendly letters at the end of the alphabet:

All had a large slice and went off to bed

All had a large slice and went off to bed! But before we do the same, we have to look at least one more Kate Greenaway’s masterpiece. This is the book about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. This tale is not very popular today because it can give nightmares to some children, but we can still enjoy the beautiful illustrations of Kate Greenaway:

Pied Piper of Hamelin by Kate Greenaway

Don’t be fooled by the beautiful scenery. Pied Piper of Hamelin is actually very horrifying story, based on the legend which explains massive deaths of children in Hamelin (Germany) in Middle Ages (probably second half of 13th century). There are many possible explanations, from plague (related with rats), colonization or crusade, but the story became most popular with the message: Keep your word or you will be punished. No wonder brothers Grimm were among the most excited about the story which is now best known in the form of fairy tale.

In the version illustrated by Kate Greenaway the story about Hamelin is told in verses written by Robert Browning. It was published in 1888.

Here is the summary:

Hamelin was infested by rats.