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, ...

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 Liv ...

, 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 recor ...

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, 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, Charles Edward Hallé, 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 Ka ...

, 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 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 wa ...

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, ...

, William Llewellyn (painter),

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 ot ...

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 William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of ...

and George Frampton. 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 O ...

library records show that he illustrated several works by Mrs. Molesworth in the mid-1890s, perhaps from 1892; one was ''

The Carved Lions ''The Carved Lions'' (1895) is a book by British author Mary Louisa Molesworth (Mrs. Molesworth). The book was first published by Macmillan and Company, London. Plot The story features the interaction between the children of the household ...

'' (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 o ...

'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. Varian ...

'' (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 Stop ...

. 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 19 ...

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 Kn ...

(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 in ...

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 nationa ...

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 the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough o ...

, 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 libra ...

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