Kate Greenaway

Pair of Kate Greenaway original watercolour artworks 'Under the Window', 1879

1879

John Charles Lamont ARSA (Scottish, 1894-1948) “The sitting girl” Pencil, watercolour, body colour and pastel Signed ‘LAMONT’ (lower-right) 23. 3/4. X 14. 3/4 in (60.5 x 37.5 cm)

Edmund Dulac (French, 1882 – 1953) A welcome refreshment Black crayon with a touch of white chalk Signed ‘E Dulac’ (upper right) 8.7/8 x 11 in. (22.5 x 28...

Edward Ridley (British, 1883-1946) An oblong design featuring ivy in blossom Gouache 10.5/8 x 4.3/8 in. (27 x 11.2 cm.) This design was one of 5 submitt...

Edward Ridley (British, 1883-1946) White Bryony Watercolour 6.1/8 x 20.1/2 in. (15.6 x 52.2 cm.) This design was one of 5 submitted for ACT certificate a...

JOHN GEORGE SOWERBY (1849-1914) Phoebe - The Open Window Watercolour heightened with white Unframed, in mount only 8 by 7 cm., 3 by 2 ¼ in. (mount size 25.5 by 20 cm., 10 by 8 in.) Reproduced: J G Sowerby & Thomas Crane, At Home, Marcus Ward & Co, 1881, p.42. The current work was reproduced in Sowerby and Crane’s 1881 children’s book, At Home, where is accompanied by the following verse: All the morning, all the morning, Sat she till her tasks were done; While without were birds and blossoms, And the pleasant sun. And the leaves in ev’ry rustle, And the birds in ev’ry song:- “Phoebe, Phoebe, are you coming? Phoebe, don’t be long!” Whispered thro’ the open window Gentle breezes, passing by:- “Phoebe, are you coming, Phoebe? Come before we die!” Till the clock, with joyful measure, Struck the hour when work is o’er; Crying “Ponto’” Phoebe vanished Through the open door. Whither sped out nimble Phoebe? She is in the study now; Ponto heard her with she called him, - Answered back “Bow-wow!’ “Ponto, tho’ the birds and garden, Called me all the morning thro’ I had first to do my lessons – So I think should you.” Poor old Ponto! He is longing, Longing for his game of play, And the garden – ah: but Phoebe Has a word to say. “Beg then – beg, sir – do you hear me? No, no, Ponto, that is wrong; Paws up! Steady! Ah, that’s better! Good dog, come along!” John George Sowerby was born into a prosperous Gateshead family of glass manufactures and artists. He inherited the family business, the Ellison Glass Works, one of the world’s largest producers of pressed glass, where he introduced designs inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. Initially he combined his energies at the glass works with his work as an illustrator and painter of landscapes and floral subjects with a Pre-Raphaelite intensity, strong colours and rich detail. He exhibited many of these paintings at the Royal Academy. In the 1880s he collaborated with Newcastle artist, Henry Hetherington Emmerson, on illustrations for the children’s books Afternoon Tea (1880) and The May Blossom (1881). Although were critically very well received but the publications were attacked by Kate Greenaway who considered them too close to her own work. Sowerby then went on to produce highly aesthetic illustrated books At Home (1881) and At Home Again (1883), with decorations by Thomas Crane. Gleeson White, editor of The Studio magazine stated that in Afternoon Tea Sowerby “set a new fashion for ‘aesthetic’ little quartos’ (The Studio, 1897). Roger Dixon in Belfast Publishing (Oxford University Press, 2011, p.79) considered these At Home and At Home Again to be “among the loveliest books ever produced.” Never very wise as a business man, in the early 1880s he left Ellison Glass Works being declared bankrupt in 1884. He returned to the works again as a paid employee. Sowerby’s daughter, Millicent Sowerby...

A charming late 19th century watercolour by the artist George Goodwin Kilburne (1839-1924) depicting a tender moment between mother and child. The figures sit at the dining table pee...

A charming genre scene in watercolours, showing 17th century figures playing card in a tavern. A man can be seen to the background being escorted ...

A finely painted watercolour of two Dutch women and a young child resting in a landscape. The artist has caught both women in a moment of silence, sat upon rocks. The genre scene has...