Animals
Walter Crane used a variety of animals in his book illustrations, designs and paintings. He learned to draw animals at an early age and continued to study them when he became a professional artist.
Animal Studies
When Walter was young, there were many farms in London. He used to take his sketchbook and spend time drawing the farm animals.
When he was older and working for W.J. Linton, he would visit the Zoological gardens and study the animals that had been brought in from other countries.
Family Pets
The Crane family kept a variety of pets at their home. These included an owl, several dogs and cats, birds, rabbits and a mongoose, which used to run up people’s legs when they sat down to dinner!
Walter made lots of drawings of his pets. They often appeared in his book illustrations as fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters. Walter also showed his pets having various adventures in the drawings he made for his children.
Storybook Animals
Walter often illustrated stories and songs which had animals in them. He enjoyed designing costumes for his animal characters and often made them look like humans.
