Not by Edward Lear

Lear, Edward; Valentine; Glasgow Museums; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/valentine-84944

If, like me, you sometimes visit ArtUK to see if there is anything new by Edward Lear, you might have noticed that there are two paintings which look completely different from his other ones. A few days ago Matt Bevis wrote to ask my opinion and I confirmed that they did not look like Lear’s to me; he then contacted Stephen Duckworth who remembered that Charles Lewsen had actually identified the author of the two painting, not Edward but Charles Hutton Lear (1818-1903).

Lear, Edward; Launce and His Dog; Glasgow Museums; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/launce-and-his-dog-84943

CH Lear appears to have drawn several pencil portrait now at the National Portrait Gallery; not much information is available on him. Here is another picture in the same style:

ArtUK, by the way, has another picture by Charles Hutton Lear, which is correctly attributed, though it looks a bit more learian than the others:

Lear, Charles Hutton; Beech Trees; Walker Art Gallery;http://www.artuk.org/artworks/beech-trees-9

This is vaguely reminiscent of Edward Lear’s two landscapes which also portray the Congreve children with their cat, posted here and here.