Kate's Lasting Legacy

Artist Kate Greenaway managed to influence fashion in two separate centuries, as Susan Brewer reveals

It’s often assumed artist Kate Greenaway, whose delicate paintings featured children in dainty 18th century and Regency style clothing, was of that period. But she wasn’t. Queen Victoria was on the throne when Kate was born in Hoxton, London in 1846 to milliner mother Elizabeth and father John, who was an engraver.

The shop, which according to the 1851 census was also a haberdashery, must have felt like a treasure trove to a small girl, filled as it was with bales of silk, velvet, satin and the finest of cottons. There she would watch as finely dressed wealthy women chose the fabrics for their new clothes and for their hats, which would then be created by her mother.

Kate loved dolls and was allowed the offcuts to make outfits for them. They must have been the best-dressed dolls ever. She wasn’t always in the shop, though, because she spent long summers visiting relatives in Rolleston, Nottinghamshire, a complete contrast to the hustle and bustle of London. There she revelled in the pastoral life, learning all about flowers and plants which later would play such a prominent part in her paintings of children in rustic settings.

No doubt it was the combination of rural life together with the exposure to beautiful fabrics that influenced her work. Kate studied graphic design and art at the South Kensington School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art, and the Royal Female School of Art, and by the time she was 21, her first printed work appeared. It was the frontispiece to a book called Infant Amusements, by William Kingston. Published in 1867, it contained music, songs and prayers, all especially written to be understood and enjoyed by youngsters.