Edward Lear, Waiee, Bombay Presidency, India.
Pencil and grey wash on paper with watermark ‘J WHATMAN/1881’. 15¼ x 22¼in. (39 x 56.5cm.)
Probably dating from late 1884 or early 1885, this work is based on an earlier drawing Lear executed in India — hence the absence of annotations. Lear had travelled in India between 1873 and 1875. He docked at Bombay on 22 November 1873 from where he travelled north to Lucknow to join the Vice-regal party of Lord Northbrook. This is a preliminary sketch for one of the Tennyson drawings subtitled as above to illustrate the lines from the poem Mariana “…. the day, was sloping towards his western bower.”
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