Kate Greenaway Illustrations from Under the Window

These illustrations appeared in an illustrated children's book called Under the Window, featuring Pictures and Rhymes for Children.

As is typical of Kate Greenwaway's art, children are depicted in archaic costumes leading a dreamy innocent life of games and pastimes. Her idyllic vision of childhood was inconsistent with the harsh reality of how most Victorian era children lived, but it served to point society towards a better, more nobler goal, one where children could be children instead of toiling endless hours in a factory.

Cover of Kate Greenaway's Rhymes for Children

This is the cover of Rhymes for Children. Greenaway's angelic children are shown holding hands in the innocence of childhood.

In this illustration, a group of happy children are shown leaving a country school. They are wearing nice bonnets and dresses. The older children hold hands with their younger siblings. There are no bullies in this perfect school that never really was. Below the picture is a rhyme celebrating the end of school.

Here two little girls are having a tea party, that quintessential British social activity. They are dressed in fine long skirts and are sitting in a bright sunlit country garden. Again, the idyllic vision of children's' lives that Greenaway portrayed did not quite match the lives of most Victorian children.

Here a little Victorian girl is pulling her younger sister in a cart accompanied by another young sibling. There is a little rhyme celebrating the bond between sisters. Sibling rivalry did not exist in Greenaway's perfect world of children's illustrations.

There are many more wonderful illustrations in this book. Eventually we will be building a site dedicated to the exceptional children's illustrations of Kate Greenaway.