Marking the bicentenary of Edward Lear's birth in 1812, this series of five essays considers the exuberant play of Edward Lear as a nonsense poet and artist and the influence of 'nonsense' on modern life.

In the fourth essay in the series, Art Historian at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Professor Caroline Arscott, considers Lear the artist.

Lear was well known as an artist long before he became famous for his writing, initially as an illustrator of birds and animals. He moved onto landscape painting, producing many thousands of studies as he travelled throughout Europe. Show less