Edward Lear, View of Amaxichi and the Fort, Santa Maura; and View of Corfu from the Benitza Road, near Gastouri.
The first inscribed ‘Santa Maura’ (lower centre, in the margin), the second inscribed ‘Corfu’ (on a fragment attached to the mount). Pencil, one pen and brown ink, both brown wash, on oatmeal paper. 9¼ x 14½ in. (23.5 x 36.8 cm.).
Lear’s sixth book recording his travels was Views of the Seven Ionian Islands, published in 1863. The format echoed his Views in Rome and its Environs: the lithographic illustrations had a brief explanatory text with each one, rather than a personal journal. The illustrations resulted from a two month tour of the islands that Lear made in the Spring of 1863. He executed numerous pencil drawings, which he later penned out and overlaid with washes. The schematic style of the present drawings, which relate to plates 10 and 4 of Seven Ionian Islands, suggest they may have been part of the overall planning of the work rather than drawings intended for reproduction.
The island of Santa Maura is now known as Lefkada.
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