Leonard Leslie Brooke (24 September 1862 – 2 May 1940) was a Britishartist, book illustrator andwriter.[1]
Brooke was born inBirkenhead, England, the second son of Leonard D. Brooke.[2] He was educated atBirkenhead School and theRoyal Academy Schools. While travelling in Italy, Brooke survived a serious illness, but was left permanently deaf.[1]
Brooke was an accomplished oil painter. In 1894, he displayed a painting entitled “I was ever a fighter, so one fight more” at the New Gallery on Regents Street, London. The painting shows a vigorous half-length of a bare-headed soldier of the seventeenth century, which a reviewer praised for 'the breezy life of the face and pose'. Brooke also displayed painted his relative, Mr. Stopford Brooke. Other exhibits included 'Love among the Ruins' byEdward Burne Jones, as well as work byEdward Arthur Fellowes PrynneLawrence Alma-Tadema,George Frederic Watts,Charles Edward Hallé, Edward Matthew Hale,Walter Crane,William Laidlay,John Roddam Spencer Stanhope,George Hitchcock,Frank William Brangwyn,Andrew Brown Donaldson,George Henry Boughton, Arthur Lemon,George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle,Edward Poynter,William Llewellyn (painter),William Logsdail,Philip Norman (artist),Clara Montalba,William Wontner andGeorge Frampton.[3]
However, Brooke was best known as a book illustrator.WorldCat library records show that he illustrated several works byMrs. Molesworth in the mid-1890s, perhaps from 1892; one wasThe Carved Lions (1895) in its first edition. His skillful and witty illustrations inAndrew Lang'sNursery Rhyme Book (1897) established his reputation as a leading children's book illustrator of pen-and-ink line drawings and watercolors. His acclaimed works includeJohnny Crow's Garden (1903), "Ring O' Roses", "The Golden Goose Book",Johnny Crow's Party (1907),Johnny Crow's New Garden (1935), "The Nursery Rhyme Book", and "Oranges and Lemons" published by Frederick Warne & Co.[1]
Brooke married Sybil Diana Brooke, daughter of his cousin, Rev.Stopford Brooke (chaplain). They had two sons:
Brooke died at his home inHampstead, age 77.[1]
Brooke has two paintings in British National Collections.[4] InChildren's Reading,Lewis M. Terman and Margaret Lima recommended some of his picture books (such as "The Golden Goose Book", the two that feature Johnny Crow, and others), commenting that Brooke "catches the spirit of childhood with rare skill".[5]
