Sketches in Italy [recto]

1830s

Ornithological draughtsman for the Zoological Society

Lear worked for the Zoological Society and became one of the greatest ornithological artists of his era: he was the first major bird artist to draw birds from life rather than from the skins of specimens. He taught Elizabeth Gould and contributed to John Gould’s works; some compared him to Audubon.

1842

A journey through Italy, from Lazio to Sicily

In 1842 Lear began a journey through the Italian peninsula, travelling through Lazio, Rome, Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily; in notes and drawings he gathered his impressions of the Italian way of life, folk traditions and the beauty of the ancient monuments.

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.