Mountainous View from Antrodoco

1843

Abruzzo along the old shepherds’ track

In 1843 Lear visited Abruzzo: along an old sheep track of the shepherds he went through the Marsica (Celano, Avezzano, Alba Fucens, Trasacco) and the plateau of Cinque Miglia (Castel di Sangro, Alfedena). He sketched the medieval village of Albe with Mount Sirente, described Celano with the Piccolomini castle dominating the plain of Lake Fucino, and noted the winter stillness of the mountains at Castel di Sangro.

1846

“A Book of Nonsense” is published

In 1846 Lear published A Book of Nonsense, a volume of limericks that went through three editions and helped popularise the form and the genre of literary nonsense.

1846

Two books of 1846: Italy and the Knowsley menagerie

The same year, 1846, saw the publication of Illustrated Excursions in Italy, a fruit of his Italian journeys, and Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall.

1847

A journey through Calabria

In 1847 Lear travelled to southern Italy, to Calabria; he described his itinerary among breathtaking landscapes and often surreal characters in Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria, whose Calabria section is thought to be among the best of his travel literature.