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A watercolour by the well-known British
artist, illustrator, author, and poet Edward Lear (1812-1888), dated December
1833.
Lear was an accomplished artist by the
age of 16, soon developing into a serious "ornithological draughtsman"
employed by the Zoological Society and then from 1832 to 1836 by the Earl
of Derby, who had a private menagerie. Lear's first publication,
published when he was 19, was "Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae,
or Parrots" in 1830. His paintings were well received and his
work favourably compared with that of famed wildlife illustrator John James
Audubon. |
