John George Brown (1831–1913)

Brown generally portrayed children in a variety of thematic groups. From the beginning of his career until about 1875, the majority of his paintings were outdoor scenes of country children engaged in youthful activities. A favorite theme, which began to appear around 1864, was that of a young girl leaning against a tree in a forest or woodland setting.  Paintings such as The Little Queen of the Woods, 1865 (The Jones Library, Amherst, Massachusetts), Resting in the Woods, 1866 (private collection), and The Berry Picker, 1864, are charming statements about the innocence of girlhood.  According to Brown scholar Martha J. Hoppin, these works best exemplify Brown’s Pre-Raphaelite style in the particular attention paid to the details of natural elements such as weeds, grasses, and leaves, as well as the dappling effects of sunlight through the trees.

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