Walter Crane (1845-1915) was born in Liverpool, England; the second son of Thomas Crane, a portrait painter and miniaturist. He was a fluent follower of the newer art movements and he came to study and appreciate the detailed senses of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and was also a diligent student of the renowned artist and critic John Ruskin. A set of coloured page designs to illustrate Tennyson's “Lady of Shalott” gained the approval of wood-engraver William James Linton to whom Walter Crane was apprenticed for three years (1859–1862).
As a wood-engraver he had abundant opportunity for the minute study of the contemporary artists whose work passed through his hands, of Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, as well as Alice in Wonderland illustrator Sir John Tenniel and Frederick Sandys. A further and important element in the development of his talent was the study of Japanese colour prints, the methods of which he imitated in a series of toy books, which started a new fashion.
For more information on Crane, and for a series on his illustrated books, see "Walter Crane books" in the side index.
This is part 1 of a 6-part series on individual works by Walter Crane:
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| 1859 Butterfly's Ball watercolour, touched with white © The Trustees of the British Museum |
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| 1865 This is the House that Jack Built pen and black ink with brown wash © The Trustees of the British Museum |
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| c1865-1915 Dunwich watercolour 11.4 x 16 cm |
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| 1870-80 Illustration to The Little Mermaid from Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen pen and ink and watercolour 15.6 x 22 cm |
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| 1870-99 Embroidered linen with coloured silks 76.7 x 64.7 cm |
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| 1872 Portrait of the artist's wife at the Grotto of Egeria graphite on paper © The Trustees of the British Museum |
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| 1872 Tree Study watercolour, with graphite on buff paper © The Trustees of the British Museum |
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| 1873 The Aventine from the Palatine opaque watercolour on wove paper 29.2 x 43.8 cm Brooklyn Museum, New York |
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| 1874 Christmas Card colour wood engraving 7.6 x 10.9 |
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| 1874 Fortuna design for a Christmas and New Year Card watercolour and gold © The Trustees of the British Museum |
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| 1874 Harvest Home watercolour and gold © The Trustees of the British Museum |
c1875-1910 Wallpaper Friezes
Colour prints from wood blocks on paper:
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| 1875-1915 Scottish Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society "Take Time by the Forelock" process engraving |
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| 1875-1915 Scottish Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society advertisement |
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| 1875-1915 Sketch of design for an inlaid wood floor at the South London Fine Art Gallery pen and ink 32.3 x 16.5 cm |
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| 1875-1915 The Interpreter book cover wood or process engraving, lithography |
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| 1875-1915 What will he do with it? by Lord Lytton Volume II wood- or process engraving, lithography |
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| c1875 Wallpaper Frieze paper & flocking |
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| c1875 Wallpaper Frieze paper & flocking |
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| 1876 Alcestis Portion of wallpaper frieze colour print from wood blocks on paper |
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| 1876 Alcestis portion of wallpaper frieze colour print from wood blocks on paper 56.5 x 50.7 cm |
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| 1876 La Margarete wallpaper colour prints from wood blocks 86.4 x 53.3 cm |
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| 1876 La Margarete wallpaper design gouache on paper 38.1 x 53.3 cm |
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| 1876 Portion of dado paper showing lilies and doves colour print from wood blocks on paper 68.6 x 50.2 cm |
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| 1876 Valentine card stock with gilding chromolithography, gold lithography 17 x 12.4 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1876 Wallpaper frieze for Jeffrey & Co. colour print from wood blocks on paper 27.1 x 51 cm |
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| 1877 Swan, Rush and Iris wallpaper for Jeffrey & Co. colour print from wood blocks on paper 53.8 x 104.1 cm |
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| 1880 Girls Skipping wallpaper by Jeffrey & Co. colour woodblock print on paper 50.8 x 74.3 cm |
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