Happy Birthday Edward Lear: 200 Years Of Nature And Nonsense

20 September - 6 January 2013. The Ashmolean is staging a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Edward Lear (1812-1888) on the occasion of the bicentenary his birth.

The museum is well-placed to hold a retrospective in honour of the acclaimed Victorian artist and ground-breaking writer: it houses the largest collection of his work in the UK.

The show covers all aspects of Lear's colourful career, from his superb natural history illustrations and landscape sketches to his famous "nonsense" drawings and quirky verses.

The exhibition comprises 100 works from the Ashmolean’s own Lear collection as well as loans from Oxford's Bodleian Library and private collections, many of which have never been displayed in public.

Speaking at the exhibition's opening, the naturalist and veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, a collector of Lear's work, described him as "probably the greatest ornithological illustrator that ever was."

Tues-Wed 10.00-17.00. Thurs-Sat 10.00-19.00. Sun 12.00-17.00. Mon closed.