G.D. Leslie Cross Stitch Kits & Patterns (6)
George Dunlop Leslie (1835–1921) painted the quiet pleasures of English life with a warmth, wit, and gentle charm that made him one of the most popular and widely loved artists of the Victorian era — the kind of painter whose work made people smile rather than think too hard, which he considered entirely the point and which his admirers considered entirely the right attitude. The son of the Royal Academician Charles Robert Leslie, he grew up surrounded by art and artists, studied at the Royal Academy Schools, and developed a style of sun-drenched, beautifully observed domestic painting that owed something to the Pre-Raphaelites but had a lightness and humour entirely his own.
His subjects were the comfortable middle-class English life he knew and loved — young women reading in gardens, children playing by rivers, family scenes in flower-filled interiors, and the particular quality of an English summer afternoon that makes everything look slightly better than it probably was. He had a particular gift for painting children, capturing them with an accuracy and affection that suggests he actually enjoyed their company, which not all Victorian painters of children can be said to have managed. His book Our River, published in 1881, is a charming account of life on the Thames near his home at Wallingford, illustrated with his own sketches and written with the easy, unhurried warmth of a man who had found exactly the life he wanted and was happy to share it.
He was also, by all accounts, excellent company — a member of a lively artistic social circle that included Marcus Stone, Frederick Walker, and John Everett Millais, and a man whose studio on the Thames was a place people enjoyed visiting. In counted cross stitch, Leslie's sun-drenched palette, beautifully observed domestic scenes, and warm, characterful compositions translate into designs of real charm and English summer beauty. Browse our G.D. Leslie cross stitch kit collection and choose a premium Leslie cross stitch kit or download a G.D. Leslie cross stitch pattern instantly.
