Lear At Ashmolean

Tomorrow the Ashmolean in Oxford opens Happy Birthday Edward Lear: 200 Years of Nature and Nonsense, a celebration to mark the bicentenary of his birth (CLICK). The Ashmolean boasts the largest and most comprehensive collection of his work in the UK. For this major retrospective of Lear's art it has also borrowed important items from the Bodleian Library and from private collections, many of which will go on public display for the first time. One hundred watercolours, oil paintings, sketches, manuscripts, and illustrated books reflect every aspect of his artistic output in chronological order. Shown is Lear's Macrocercus aracanga or Red and Yellow Macaw from "Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae or Parrots" (1830–32). Admission is £4 for adults, £3 for silver surfers.