Edward Lear, Dahr el Bayree, Thebes.
Inscribed Thebes. Dahr el Bayree. 19 Feby. 1854. lower right; further inscribed with extensive artist’s notes, inscribed No. 12 single verso. Pen and brown and pencil and watercolour. Unframed: 28.9 by 51.1cm., 11¼ by 20in. Framed: 52.8 by 74cm., 20⅝ by 29⅛in.

Provenance
Spink, London
The Fine Art Society, London, by 1988
Acquired from the above by the late owner

Exhibited
London, The Fine Art Society, A Centenary Exhibition, 1988

Lear visited Thebes in February 1854, spending ten days sketching the temples, ruins and landscape, as part of his journey along the Nile. In the present drawing Lear has his back to the river and looks west towards the Thebian Hills. His inscription Dabr El Bayree, would seem to refer to ‘Dayr al-Baḥrīa’, a nearby 7th century monastery.

Sotheby’s.