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Edward Lear (1812-1888) was a pretty incredible man for his time. Not many got the chance to travel as much as he did back then (if at all), and they especially didn’t get to travel in the way that he did.
A bit of background: Edward Lear was an English landscape and portrait artist who taught Queen Victoria how to wield a paintbrush. He also traversed many lands that were curious and indeed very exotic at that time in history. Throughout his life, he travelled extensively in Italy, Albania, Greece, Egypt, and India, venturing along a slow and cultural path, often meeting up with well-placed friends on the way. He was by no means a one-trick pony, though. As well as creating scenes of some of the most well-known landscapes in the world, Lear was also a handy poet and writer, known mainly for his array of ‘nonsense’ works that use both real and made-up words.
Today, I thought I’d share some of Lear’s incredible drawings with you, spanning all across the globe from a time we can only imagine. I’ll let the pieces do the talking.
Italy
Greece
India
You can read more about Lear’s work in India here.
Malta
Egypt
Jerusalem
Do you recognise any of these places in the present day? Has much changed at all? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
[…] forward to the mid-19th century. After teaching Queen Victoria how to wield a paintbrush, Edward Lear set out to explore distant lands, painting their oddities as he […]