- Snowy Owl Illustration (1832-1837)
Snowy Owl Illustration (1832-1837)
Edward Lear
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Edward Lear
Edward Lear, born on May 12, 1812 in Holloway, a suburb of London, was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, best known for his literary nonsense works and landscape paintings. Lear was the 20th child of Ann and Jeremiah Lear, a wealthy family that ran into financial difficulties due to business failures. Despite health problems and a difficult childhood, Lear developed a passion for art at an early age and began his career as an illustrator, drawing avifauna for scientific works.
His travels took him throughout Europe and the Middle East, where he painted numerous landscapes and made a name for himself as a serious landscape painter. In addition to his paintings, Lear is best known for his humorous and seemingly absurd poems and limericks, which he often provided with his own illustrations. His best-known work, "A Book of Nonsense" (1846), a collection of limericks written for the children of his brother, Lord Stanley, was a huge success and established the genre of literary nonsense. Lear's works are characterized by their playful use of language and form as well as their bizarre characters and situations.
Interesting fact:
Edward Lear was not only an artist and writer, but also a passionate musician who composed several pieces of music. He played the piano and flute excellently and even gave concerts. His musical abilities also flowed into his literary works, in which he often emphasized the rhythmic and tonal quality of language. Lear also suffered from epilepsy, which he kept secret throughout his life because the disease was highly stigmatized in his time. He called his seizures “The Demon.”Significant Artworks & Images by Edward Lear:
1. "The Owl and the Pussycat" (illustration, 1871)2. "Mount Athos" (landscape painting, 1856)
3. "The Jumblies" (illustration, 1871)
4. "Corfu: A Landscape" (landscape painting, 1864)
5. "Pelicans in Egypt" (illustration, 1877)
6. "View of Rome" (landscape painting, 1841)
7. "The Dong with a Luminous Nose" (Illustration, 1875)
8. "The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò" (Illustration, 1877)
9. "Nonsense Botany" (illustration, 1888)
10. "Cedars of Lebanon" (landscape painting, 1862)