"On a Letter to Ruskin"

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Kate Greenaway (1846-1901)

Undated, but probably 1897

Ink sketch

Spielmann and Layard, p. 217

Greenaway and Ruskin had a long and warm correspondence. In a letter to Ruskin of 22 April 1897, Kate Greenaway says, "I am very fond of Nicholas Nickleby (qtd in Spielmann and Layard, p. 222), and here she sketches Nickleby's sister Kate for him. [Commentary continues below.].

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In the novel, Kate Nickleby is apprenticed to the dressmaker, Madame Mantelini. Predictably, Greenaway, whose mother had opened a milliner's shop which became a "ladies' oufitter" (see Engen 13), was fascinated by this side of it, reminding Ruskin of "the dreadful costume of Miss La Creevy" as seen in the early illustrations, adding "but Kate Nickleby looks Pretty in the large bonnets Madame Mantelini too" (reproduced in Spielmann and Layard, 217).

Bibliography

Engen, Rodney. Kate Greenaway: A Biography. New York: Schocken, 1981.

Spielmann, M. H., and G. S. Layard. Kate Greenaway. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1905. Internet Archive. Web. 9 May 2013.

Last modified 13 May 2013