Images of children
Children were perhaps the most popular subject for Victorian Christmas cards. Although some cards did show children as mischievous or naughty, the usual depiction was a sentimentally idealized one of pretty, charming, and smiling boys and girls. Kate Greenaway's romantic drawings of children were immensely popular and her work was regularly imitated by other illustrators.
The first card of the "Home for the Holidays" series is pictured here, at left. See the rest of the series, with accompanying verse, showing the "romping and fighting and noise" that ensues.
See the rest of the series for holiday cards by Kate Greenaway.