Previous Exhibitions - Edward Lear the Landscape Artist

Edward Lear the Landscape Artist: tours of Ireland and the English Lakes 1835 and 1836

2 July - 4 October 2009

Edward Lear may be best known for his nonsense poetry, cartoon-like illustrations and being credited with inventing the limerick, but his ambition was to be an artist. In fact, he was extremely accomplished, both as a painter of birds and as a "landscape draughtsman".

The story behind the exhibition draws on previously unpublished letters from Lear to friends in the South of England. These describe in charmingly humourous detail the trip he undertook in 1836 in the Lake District to draw landscapes after staying with his patron the Earl of Derby. They also detail where he stayed, who he met, his entertaining social encounters and his thoughts on his adventure.

These letters, the numbered sequence of images and extensive research have enabled Charles Nugent, the curator of the exhibition, to trace the route Lear took, covering long distances throughout the Lake District and, by Lear's account, battling the weather.

The exhibition contains over 100 drawings and watercolours including all the known pictures resulting from his trip to Ireland in August 1835 plus the letters, lithographs and books. During his journeys, Lear produced drawings relentlessly. On a good day, with fine weather, he might complete five or six sketches, sometimes with significant distances between the views. The images capture both the form and atmosphere of the landscapes and one can sense the energy of the young artist, eager to develop his skills.

Using 21st century technology, a three dimensional digital map of the route Lear took will allow the visitor to "fly" along the route he would have travelled through the Lake District, stopping to see the pictures from the exhibition superimposed on a computer simulation of the landscape.

Click here to view the Edward Lear Landscape Artist - Google Earth Virtual Tour (opens in new window).

Charles Nugent commented, "From studying the correspondence, I have in my mind the idea of a man who regularly complained about his health and the weather; Yet the distances he travelled, apparently alone, are quite extraordinary."

The journey through the Lake District, which lasted from early August until the end of October 1836, was undertaken on horseback and on foot. This would be a considerable achievement by any standards, but more remarkable because Lear was a grand mal epileptic. Lear kept his epilepsy a secret and hardly anyone knew about it until after his death. He once said, "It is wonderful that these fits have never been discovered".

Wordsworth Trust director, Michael McGregor said, "Edward Lear, the landscape artist is a very exciting exhibition for the Wordsworth Trust. It is relevant to 21st century visitors to Wordsworth Country in so many ways and it has such a great story behind it. This is an example of a show which marries art, adventure, technology and scholarship to produce something that will touch a wide range of people."