LEAR EDWARD: (1812-1888) English Artist, Illustrator, Author and Poet, remembered for his literary n...

LEAR EDWARD: (1812-1888) English Artist, Illustrator, Author and Poet, remembered for his literary nonsense and limericks. A.L.S., Edward Lear, one page, 8vo, Upper Seymour Street, Portman Square, n.d., to Mrs. [Julia Margaret?] Cameron. Lear thanks his correspondent for their extremely kind letter and adds 'I will try not to eat more than will make my old sister suppose I am dining with her at two o'clock. Then, having seen her on her way home, I will come down with Holman Hunt'. With blank integral leaf. A few light, minor ink smudges to a few words of text, not affecting the signature. VG £500-800 William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) English Painter, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In 1852 Lear was introduced to Holman Hunt and a long association between the two followed; despite Lear's sixteen years seniority to the painter he was aware of the advances that the younger generation had made in terms of the use of colour and the understanding of light and Lear shared their reverence for the detail of nature, and was determined to learn from them. It is possible that the present letter was written to the British Photographer Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879). Indeed, several letters to her from Lear and Holman Hunt written between 1859-79 are held in the Rosenbach Library in Philadelphia.