Edward Lear is still one of the best-loved writers of the British pantheon: children who don't know much Donne or Keats will still have read The Owl and the Pussycat (COUNTRY LIFE, May 9, 2012). He was also an ornithological draughtsman and topographical artist. But where should one go to mark his bicentenary?
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There's a small exhibition of prints and drawings at the British Museum (until July 15), but it could hardly be said that his home country has pushed the pea-green boat out in celebration. Runcible hats off, then, to Corfu, the island that Lear thought was one of the most beautiful spots on Earth. It's repaid the compliment by staging an exceptionally elegant exhibition in the Palace of St Michael and St George in Corfu town. The palace dates from the British protectorate, a fine piece of neo-Classicism with Doric columns by the military engineer Sir George Whitmore.
One of the pleasures of the exhibition is the skill with which it's been inserted into the historic interiors. Lear, self-taught, struggled with the great Academy oils with which he hoped to make his name and fortune, but the fluent sketches he made of Corfu and the other Ionian islands breathe tenderness. On Thursday, a bronze bust by Margot Roulleau Gallais was unveiled at the Cavalieri Hotel, Corfu. Can't we get a copy for London?
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50 years ago, the English country house seemed headed for extinction. Instead it was the start of a new golden ageRather than perceiving the mid 20th century as a troubled period in the history of the country house, John Martin Robinson argues that it was perhaps one of the most interesting, unexpected and enterprising. All photography from the Country Life Image Archive, by June Buck, Paul Barker, Val Corbett, Will Pryce and Paul Highnam.
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'Meat, ale and guns — what else do you need, bar glorious scenery?': William Sitwell on the Brendon Hills, West SomersetWilliam Sitwell chooses the Brendon Hills as his piece of heaven in Britain.
