Randolph caldecott biography

Six years later, still in the employment of the bank, Caldecott moved to Manchester. He began to study at night school at the ‘Manchester School of Art’, and continued to draw and paint, publishing a number of his pieces in local papers and even some London periodicals, including the widely read London Society.

In 1872, encouraged by his successes, Caldecott moved to the capital, and within a few years had established himself as a successful magazine illustrator.

Caldecott remained in London for seven years, spending most of them in lodgings at 46 Great Russell Street – just opposite the British Museum, in the heart of Bloomsbury.

While there he met and made friends (as he did very readily) with many artistic and literary people, among them Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George du Maurier (who was a fellow contributor to Punch), John Everett Millais and Frederic Leighton.

His friendship with Frederic (later Lord) Leighton led to a commission to design