Edward Lear (1812-1888) was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, known for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose. He is known especially for his popular nonsense verse, such as "The Owl and the Pussycat" and "The Jumblies". He also wrote limericks, a form he popularized. Lear was born in Holloway, London, and was the twentieth of twenty-one children of Ann Clark Skerrett and Jeremiah Lear. He was raised by his eldest sister, also named Ann. He was educated at home and showed a talent for drawing from an early age. He was largely self-taught in art, and his first published illustrations were wood engravings for the Illustrated London News in 1829. Lear's work as an artist and illustrator was highly successful, and he was commissioned to illustrate books by authors such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, and Charles Dickens. He also wrote and illustrated several books of his own, including A Book of Nonsense (1846) and Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets (1871). In addition to his literary works, Lear was an accomplished landscape painter. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, and his paintings of the Mediterranean and the Near East are considered some of his best works. Lear died in 1888 in Sanremo, Italy, and is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.
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