Editing Edward Lear (section)

===Artist===
[[File:Masada (or Sebbeh) on the Dead Sea, Edward Lear, 1858.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Masada]] on the [[Dead Sea]]'', Edward Lear, 1858]]
Lear was already drawing "for bread and cheese" by the time he was aged 16 and soon developed into a serious "ornithological draughtsman" employed by the [[Zoological Society of London|Zoological Society]] and from 1832 to 1836 by the [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby|Earl of Derby]], who kept a private menagerie at his estate, [[Knowsley Hall]]. He was the first major bird artist to draw birds from life rather than the skins of specimens. Lear's first publication, published when he was 19 years old, was ''[[Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots]]'' in 1830.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Lear, Edward |first=Charles William|last=Sutton|volume=32}}</ref> One of the greatest ornithological artists of his era, he taught [[Elizabeth Gould (illustrator)|Elizabeth Gould]] whilst also contributing to [[John Gould]]'s works and was compared by some to the naturalist [[John James Audubon]]. In honour of Lear's bird illustrations, ''Anodorhynchus leari'', popular name [[Lear's macaw]], is named after him.

After his eyesight deteriorated too much to work with such precision on the fine drawings and etchings of plates used in lithography, he turned to landscape painting and travel.<ref>Roger F. Pastier & John Farrand, Jr., ''Masterpieces of Bird Art, 700 Years of Ornithological Illustration'', pp. 122–123, Abbeville Press, New York, 1991, {{ISBN|1-55859-134-6}}</ref>

Among other travels, he visited [[Greece]] and [[Egypt]] during 1848–49 and toured India during 1873–75, including a brief detour to [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]]. While travelling he produced large quantities of coloured [[wash (visual arts)|wash]] drawings in a distinctive style, which he converted later in his studio into oil and [[watercolour]] paintings, as well as prints for his books.<ref>Andrew Wilton & Anne Lyles, ''The Great Age of British Watercolours (1750–1880)'', p. 318, 1993, Prestel, {{ISBN|3-7913-1254-5}}</ref> His landscape style often shows views with strong sunlight, with intense contrasts of colour.<ref>Hofer, Philip. 1967. ''Edward Lear as a landscape draughtsman.'' Cambridge: Mass., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.</ref> 

Between 1878 and 1883, Lear spent his summers on [[Monte Generoso]], a mountain on the border between the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] canton of [[Ticino]] and the Italian region of [[Lombardy]]. His [[oil painting]] ''The Plains of Lombardy from Monte Generoso'' is in the [[Ashmolean Museum]] in [[Oxford]].<ref name=swac>{{cite book |title=Switzerland Without A Car |year=2013 |publisher=[[Bradt Travel Guides]] |location=Chalfont St. Peter |edition=5th |isbn=978-1-84162-447-1 |pages=336–7 |first=Anthony |last=Lambert}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-plains-of-lombardy-from-monte-generoso-142266 |title= The Plains of Lombardy from Monte Generoso |work=[[Art UK]] |access-date=27 June 2014}}</ref>

Throughout his life, he continued to paint seriously. He had a lifelong ambition to illustrate [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]]'s poems; near the end of his life, a volume with a small number of illustrations was published.