The Remarkable Nature of Edward Lear
Known the world over as the author of "The Owl and the Pussycat" and other "nonsense poems" for children, Edward Lear (1812-1888) was also an extraordinarily accomplished natural history painter, ranked by many contemporaries—and subsequent art historians—as an artist on a par with John James Audubon.
In the decade of the 1830s, Lear was the unofficial artist in residence at the London Zoo, illustrating dozens of natural history publications for others as well as his own spectacular monograph on parrots, Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots (1832).
Just as he was achieving an international reputation for his scientific illustration, Lear abruptly terminated this part of his career in order to devote himself full-time to landscape painting and travel.
Fortunately, his scientific illustrations endure. The Ewell Sale Stewart Library of The Academy of Natural Sciences owns copies of virtually every one of the dozens of now rare books that Edward Lear illustrated. An extensive set of images from two of his publications is presented here.
Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots (1832) was the book established Lear's reputation as a natural history illustrator. A total of 42 of Lear's parrots are presented in three image galleries (Parrot Gallery 1, Parrot Gallery 2 and Parrot Gallery 3).
Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall (1846) presented illustrations and accounts for a variety of birds, mammals and a turtle from a private zoo. All 17 plates from this publication are presented in Gleanings Gallery 1 and Gleanings Gallery 2.