Old Favourites: Blue Bird for Bloomsbury

Being a complete novice to the art of blogging, and in order that I might politely introduce myself, I have posted this image especially for Ms. Lisa Borgnes Giramonti of A Bloomsbury Life. I have vetted Mr Lear and have ascertained that he is possessed of all of the characteristics listed in the 'A Bloomsbury Life' post of June 4th.

'The Dark Blue Bird' by Edward Lear (1812-88). Ink & watercolour, one of six. England, 1880.

(another V&A treasure available through www.vandaprints.com)

Long celebrated as the author of "The Owl and the Pussycat" and recently rediscovered as a landscape painter, Edward Lear has emerged as one of the formidable figures of 19th-century England - a larger-than-life and gloriously eccentric Victorian, part naturalist, part artist, part raconteur.