Cicely Mary Barker (English, 1895 - 1973), Tree Fairies, most from ‘Flower Fairies of the Trees," first published by Blackie & Son in 1950.
"Cicely Mary Barker was born in Croydon, Surrey, England on 28 June, 1895. The youngest child of Walter and Mary Barker, Cicely was an epileptic child and was cared for and educated at home by her family. Here she was influenced by the work of Victorian illustrators Kate Greenaway and Randolph Caldecott. As well as home tuition, Barker benefitted from correspondence courses. At age 13 she attended evening classes at Croydon School of Art, where she continued to study until the 1940’s.
Botanically correct, if Barker was unable to obtain local examples of flowers she wished to paint, she would use the specimens at Kew Gardens for her research. As for the characters of her flower fairies, many were based on children she knew and children who attended her sister’s nursery."
