I have received John Varriano’s new book on Edward Lear in Malta, a gorgeous addition to the recent fashion of books and / or exhibitions on Lear’s travels to different parts of the world. This beautiful oblong volume contains a detailed discussion of the painter’s visits to the island and in particular the last one in 1865-1866, lists all known landscape paintings he did of the island — most of those that can still be traced are illustrated — and prints transcripts of the diaries and letters written in the period he stayed there. Highly recommended.

You may remember there was an exhibition in Corfu a couple of years ago on Edward Lear and the Ionian Islands; one of the events connected with this was a lecture on Edward Lear by psychiatrist Anthony Stevens, which I have found is available in its entirety on YouTube: Dr Stevens states that Lear suffered from “a severe body dysmorphic disorder,” i.e. was obsessed with his physical appearance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uN1RlWCKvoì

Finally, if you read Italian you should not miss Paola Vozza’s long post on Il paesaggio secondo Lear, which also has a gallery with several of the landscapes Lear painted of the Italian alpine lakes.

Isola San Giulio. Lago di Orta. 1842.