Leonard Leslie Brooke (24 September 1862 – 2 May 1940) was a British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Early life and education

Brooke was born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, England, the second son of Leonard D. Brooke.

General Register Office General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital record ...

index of births registered in October, November, December 1862 - Name: Brooke, Leonard Leslie. District: Birkenhead. Volume: 8A Page: 391. He was educated at Birkenhead School and the Royal Academy Schools. While travelling in Italy, Brooke survived a serious illness, but was left permanently deaf.

Career

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' by

Edward Burne Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...

, as well as work by work by

Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne (1854–1921) was a leading British late Pre-Raphaelite painter of portraits and subject pictures, who in later life became one of the country's best known creators of decorative art for churches. Family and Early ...

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...

George Frederic Watts George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical work ...

Charles Edward Hallé Charles Edward Hallé (1846–1914), sometimes given as Edward Charles Hallé, was an English painter and gallery manager. He was a painter of history scenes, genre scenes, and portraits. Life Hallé was the son of Sir Charles Hallé, the Germ ...

, Edward Matthew Hale,

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and K ...

William Laidlay William James Laidlay (12 August 1846 – 25 October 1912) was a Scottish first-class cricketer, barrister and artist. The son of John Watson Laidlay, he was born in August 1846 at Calcutta in British India. He was educated in Scotland at the ...

John Roddam Spencer Stanhope John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (20 January 1829 – 2 August 1908) was an English artist associated with Edward Burne-Jones and George Frederic Watts and often regarded as a second-wave pre-Raphaelite. His work is also studied within the context o ...

, George Hitchcock, Frank William Brangwyn,

Andrew Brown Donaldson Andrew Brown Donaldson was a British artist mainly active in the second half of the nineteenth century. He was born in 1840, although some sources say 1838, and was the second son of a solicitor named William Leverton Donaldson and his wife, Mar ...

George Henry Boughton George Henry Boughton (4 December 1833 – 19 January 1905) was an Anglo-American landscape and genre painter, illustrator and writer. Life and work Boughton was born in Norwich in Norfolk, England, the son of farmer William Boughton. The fam ...

, Arthur Lemon,

George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle George James Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle (12 August 184316 April 1911), known as George Howard until 1889, was an English aristocrat, peer, politician, and painter. He was the last Earl of Carlisle to own Castle Howard. Early life Howard was ...

Edward Poynter Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet (20 March 183626 July 1919) was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy. Life Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter. He was born in Paris, Fr ...

William Llewellyn (painter) Sir Samuel Henry William Llewellyn (1 December 1858 – 28 January 1941) was a Welsh painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who served as President of the Royal Academy from 1928 to 1938. He was awarded the Albert Medal by the R ...

William Logsdail William Logsdail (25 May 1859 – 3 September 1944) was a prolific English landscape, portrait, and genre painter. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Grosvenor Gallery, the New Gallery (London), and othe ...

Philip Norman (artist) Philip E Norman FSA (9 July 1842 – 17 May 1931) was a British artist, author and antiquary. Background Born in 1842 in Bromley Common, Kent, Norman was the son of George Warde Norman (1793–1882), who was a director of the Bank of Englan ...

Clara Montalba Clara Federica Montalba (2 August 1840 – 14 August 1929) was a British artist, chiefly known for her watercolour paintings of Venice. She was the eldest of four daughters of the Swedish-born artist Anthony Rubens Montalba, all of whom achiev ...

, William Wontner and

George Frampton Sir George James Frampton, (18 June 1860 – 21 May 1928) was a British sculptor. He was a leading member of the New Sculpture movement in his early career when he created sculptures with elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, often combining ...

. However, Brooke was best known as a book illustrator.

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

library records show that he illustrated several works by

Mrs. Molesworth Mary Louisa Molesworth, ''née'' Stewart (29 May 1839 – 20 January 1921) was an English writer of children's stories who wrote for children under the name of Mrs Molesworth. Her first novels, for adult readers, ''Lover and Husband'' (1869) ...

in the mid-1890s, perhaps from 1892; one was '' The Carved Lions'' (1895) in its first edition. His skillful and witty illustrations in

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

's ''Nursery Rhyme Book'' (1897) established his reputation as a leading children's book illustrator of pen-and-ink line drawings and watercolors. His acclaimed works include ''

Johnny Crow's Garden Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Variant ...

'' (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.

Personal life

Brooke married Sybil Diana Brooke, daughter of his cousin, Rev.

Stopford Brooke (chaplain) Stopford Augustus Brooke (14 November 1832 – 18 March 1916) was an Irish churchman, royal chaplain and writer. He was born in the rectory of Glendoen, near Letterkenny, Donegal, Ireland, of which parish his maternal grandfather, Joseph Stopfo ...

. They had two sons: *

2nd Lt. Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

Leonard Stopford Brooke (1895–1918), killed in Germany during the First World War. *

Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor (9 April 1903 – 29 March 1984) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster-General from 1961 to 1962 and — following the "Night of the Long Kni ...

(1903–1984),

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician who served as

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

from 1962 to 1964 Brooke died at his home in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, age 77.

Legacy

Brooke has two paintings in British National Collections. In ''Children's Reading'',

Lewis M. Terman Lewis Madison Terman (January 15, 1877 – December 21, 1956) was an American psychologist and author. He was noted as a pioneer in educational psychology in the early 20th century at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. He is best known f ...

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".

References

External links

* * * *
''The Story of the Three Little Pigs''
with Drawings by L. Leslie Brooke From the Collections at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

The Golden Goose Book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, Leslie 1862 births 1940 deaths Deaf artists English deaf people English illustrators English male writers People from Birkenhead