Ernestine: An artist born or trained?

Ernestine’s mysterious background has led many to speculate about how she acquired her artistic and design skills. Her renderings and watercolors show an observant eye for color and movement and she certainly knew how to work pencil and brush!

Perhaps she studied art while a young student attending Miss Comstock’s School for young ladies in New York City. Or maybe she studied art in Italy and refined her skills once there. But she may have simply inherited her maternal grandfather’s extraordinary artistic talent.

Charles Kendrick was born in England in 1841 to a family of milliners. By age 20 he was working as an artist for the Illustrated Times Weekly newspaper in London.

In 1873 he immigrated to New York City with his young family. He quickly became a successful and prolific artist, providing illustrations for books, newspapers and periodicals.

Here are some examples of his work:

Caricatures of Jay Gould and William Henry Vanderbilt appearing in Chic magazine, which Charles Kendrick founded

This book about manners for girls has the most startling title.

Another cartoon from Chic magazine

Caricature of Sarah Bernhardt

From children’s books to political cartoons, Charles Kendrick was without a doubt both talented and versatile. Creative genius was surely written into his granddaughter’s DNA.