Edward Lear, The Pyramids near Cairo.
Inscribed and dated near Cairo. Jany. 9. 1849 lower left; inscribed a mother of Mud. lower centre; numbered 7 lower right. Pen and brown ink and watercolour over traces of pencil. Unframed: 17.1 by 50.7cm., 6¾ by 20in. Framed: 41.5 by 73.2cm., 16¼ by 28¾in.

Provenance
Private collection, USA
Sale: London, Sotheby’s, 29 November 1973, lot 178
Leger Galleries, London, by 1975
Acquired from the above by Martin R. Davies, Bristol, April 1975

Exhibited
Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, Edward Lear. Watercolours, Oils and Drawings, 1988
London, The Fine Art Society, A Centenary Exhibition, 1988

This drawing was created on the 9 January 1849, three days after Lear’s arrival in Cairo. He had just spent nine months travelling in the eastern Mediterranean and he had long wanted to experience Egypt. In Cairo he met his friend John Cross and together they set out by camel on the route from Cairo to Suez. Lear fell ill in Suez and this curtailed his plans, ultimately forcing him to abandon his travels in the region. He was, however, hugely inspired by the landscapes and people of Egypt and he would return on three further occasions.

Sotheby’s.