Figure 1.--The childrn in dresses and bonnets look to have been girls. The child in the skeleton suit is clearly a boy. Note his long hair. We are less sure about the child in the blue dress to the right. Not that this child's dress does not have a cut-out neckline, but rather a uffled collar. |
The gender of most of the children in Kate Greenway's drawings are obvious. The children in long pants skeketon suits are always boys. The older children in dresses are girls. The children in bonnets are almost certainly girls. The younger children in dresses and smocks, however, are less clear. A HBC reader wonders about the children she drew in dresses. He asks, "Kate Greenway did a lot of drawings featuring children in quaint costumes. I think some of the children in dresses are boys. The only thing I have to base this on is the hats, very elaborate for the girls and plain for the boys with a single ribbon band. Given artistic license, how accurate do you think her depictions are?" The gender of the children wearing smocks and pinafores presents the same question. HBC does not know. We do not know to what extent Greenway herself considered this issue. Given that boys were not usually breeched until 4-6 years throughout the 19th century, it seems likely that she would have drawn the younger boys in dresses and smocks. HBC can not, however, confirm this. One important factor to consider is that if some of the younger children in dresses are not boys, girls are then heavily over populated in Greenway's drawings.
The gender of most of the children in Kate Greenway's drawings are obvious. The older children in dresses are clearly girls. The children in long pants skeketon suits are always boys. The older children in dresses are girls. The children in bonnets are almost certainly girls.
The younger children in dresses and smocks, however, are less clear. A HBC reader wonders about the children she drew in dresses. He asks, "Kate Greenway did a lot of drawings featuring children in quaint costumes. I think some of the children in dresses are boys. The only thing I have to base this on is the hats, very elaborate for the girls and plain for the boys with a single ribbon band. Given artistic license, how accurate do you think her depictions are?" The gender of the children wearing smocks and pinafores presents the same question. HBC does not know.
HBC does not know to what extent Greenway herself considered this issue. Given that boys were not usually breeched until 4-6 years throughout the 19th century, it seems likely that she would have drawn the younger boys in dresses and smocks. HBC can not, however, confirm this. One important factor to consider is that if some of the younger children in dresses are not boys, girls are then heavily over populated in Greenway's drawings.
The garments in which the children are dressed in some cases clearly identify them. In other cases both boys and girls wear the same garments and it is the age and detailing of the garment that suggest the possible gender of the child illustrated. Some details such as sashes were worn by both boys and girls. The type of hat, on the other hand, seems to have been used to suggest gender. We have noted that some young boys in dresses did wear bonnets like the Croft brothers in the 1790s. We believe, however, that Greenway's children in bonners ae probably girl. We think the neck-line detailing on dresses were probably of some importance. We are not yet sure about how Greenwy used smocks n pinafores.
HBC has not yet noted cla gender ifferentiation with hair styles. Some of th boys in skeleton suits seem to have hair longer than the girls in dreses. Both girls and boys ae seen with short hair styles. Some of the hair is curled, but we do not notice a lot of children with pronounced ringlet curls.
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