Tea at Trianon: Kate Greenaway

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, April 18, 2016

Kate Greenaway

From English Historical Fiction Authors:

Born March 17, 1846 in London, her first name may have been Catherine, but she seems to have been always known as Kate. She was the daughter of John Greenaway, a draughtsman and wood engraver whose illustrations appeared in PUNCH and other periodicals, and Elizabeth Jones Greenaway, a seamstress. Kate seemed to have inherited talents from both parents, as she loved to draw and to make clothes for her dolls. She was taught at home, and encouraged to draw. As a child, she spent time with relatives in Rolleston, Nottinghamshire, and acquired a love for the country. She pursued her art studies, including some time studying drawing and watercolours in Chelsea, and later at the Slade School of Fine Art. In 1867, she made Christmas cards, illustrated a book for author William Kingston, and she exhibited some of her work in 1868 at the Dudley Gallery in London. Her cards, book plates and calendars were popular, and her illustrations appeared in magazines as well. She illustrated children’s books by multiple authors, and a couple of novels by Charlotte M. Yonge. Her first exhibit at the Royal Academy was held in 1877. She was, however, quite eager to write, as well as illustrate, her own book. (Read more.)