Edward Lear (12 or 13 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) is best known for his nonsense poetry but during his life he was a well known artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet.
Born in Holloway in North London, the penultimate of twenty-one children and the youngest to survive, Lear was already known for his art by aged 16 and was raised by his sister, 21 years his senior. Lear suffered from ill health all his life, by six he had suffered frequent grand mal epileptic seizures, bronchitis and asthma. He also probably suffered from depression, bouts of melancholy he referred to as “The Morbids”.
As a young man, Lear was employed by the Zoological society and was the first major bird artist to draw birds from live birds instead of skins and was known as one of the greatest ornithological artists of his era. He would draw birds until his poor eye sight let him down and unable to draw with such precision, Lear moved onto landscapes.
Forget the pussycat, Lear’s ornithological art was his real talent
Despite his ill health, Lear was well travelling and during his life visited Greece and Egypt, and toured India, while travelling he produced wash drawings in his distinctive style which he later converted to oil and watercolour paintings in his studio. During his life, Lear was also a competent composer, composing music for many Romantic and Victorian poems of the day and for his musical settings to many of Tennyson’s poems, the only musicals settings that Tennyson ever approved.
In love Edward Lear was not as successful, falling in love with barrister Franklin Lushington in 1849, the feelings were not reciprocated, leading to almost 40 years of unrequited love. Attempts at further relationships with men also appear to have been unsuccessful due to Lear’s intense affections. Lear did twice propose to the same woman, but she turned him down both times. The closest Lear got to a trusted companion was with his cat Foss who was buried in a garden at Villa Tennyson with some ceremony in 1886.
Lear’s “Masada”
Rock Fortress of Masada, on the Dead Sea
It was at Villa Tennyson, his home in San Remo, Italy that Edward Lear would meet his end, aged 75 from heart diseases in 1888. His funeral was said to be a sad, lonely affair as none of Lear’s friends was able to attend. His grave still stands in Cemetery Foce in San Remo and bears lines from a Tennyson poem below.
all things fair.
With such a pencil, such a pen.
You shadow forth to distant men,
I read and felt that I was there.
More than 100 years after his birth, Lear is best remembered for his literary nonsense, such as A Book of Nonsense published in 1846, the book that popularised the limerick. His most well known poem is still The Owl and the Pussycat and we particularly love this animated version that we are sharing with you below.
That said, Lear’s art and particularly is ornithological artwork should not be looked over for this man had a great many talents and he put each of them to very good use.
Birmingham Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah dies, aged 65
Top Authors Join Legal Battle Against OpenAI for Mass Copyright Infringement
Literary Icon, Cormac McCarthy has died
The Literary World Mourns Martin Amis
Anne Perry, Murderer turned Crime Writer dies, aged 84