EDWARD LEAR

Edward Lear (1812-1888) is best known for his work as a satirical writer: also famous in Italy is The Book of Nonsense (translated into Italian in 1982, by Einaudi). Other books of his that are worth mentioning are: The Owl and the Pussycat (1871) and Non-sense Songs and Stories (1877).

 

 

Lear’s life is marked by extraordinary creativity and a wide range of interests, ranging from art to poetry to exploration, producing numerous illustrations for other authors as well as himself.

 

 

In 1830 he obtained employment as a draughtsman with the Zoological Society of London, with the task of illustrating parrots and other exotic birds. His drawings were highly appreciated and published in one of the first volumes of ornithology published in Britain, devoted to a single species of birds: Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots.

 

 

Between 1837 and 1848, he undertook a series of travels in Europe, visiting Italy (1837-1838), the Balkans in 1848, also pushing on to the Middle East in the same year.

 

 

Particularly at Palazzo Butera, in the Valsecchi collection, are works documenting his travels to Turin, Switzerland, or on foot in Liguria that took place in 1868.

 

 

He spent the last years of his life in Italy, where he died in 1888 in San Remo.