Edward Lear

Edward Lear began his career as a zoological draughtsman. He served an informal apprenticeship with the naturalist Prideaux Selby (1788-1867) and by 1830 had published Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, a magnificent book on parrots. This brought him to the attention of Lord Stanley, later 13^th Earl of Derby (1775-1851), who invited him to draw at his private menagerie and aviaries at his family seat Knowsley. Between 1832 and 1837 Lear also worked closely with his fellow artist John Gould (1804-1881) and he contributed over sixty lithographic images to Gould’s publication: Birds of Europe. Lear’s ornithological drawings were highly praised by his contemporaries and perhaps part of the reason for this success was that he only drew from living specimens. This enabled him to capture not only the precise physical details of the birds he painted, but their individual character traits as well.