John George Brown
1831-1913
Born into a poor family in Durham, England, John George Brown
earned a reputation as one of 19th-century America's most skilled
painters of children, especially entrepreneurial, cheerful street
urchins who earned a pittance as boot blacks, newspaper vendors,
etc. In some circles, he was dubbed the "Boot Black Raphael" because
of the glowing faces of his child figures and his skill of execution.
His paintings of these sympathy-arousing children were so popular in
a Victorian era of increased industrialization that he became rich
from painting sales as well as royalties from lithographs.