Edward Lear, The Abbey of Santo Spirito at Sulmona.
Signed lower right ‘E. Lear del. 1844’ and inscribed lower left ‘Abbadia di S. Spirito.’ Black chalk, pencil and stump heightened with white on buff paper 8.5 x 15cm
Provenance
John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866), Thence by descent until 2015
Literature
Edward Lear’s Illustrated Excursions in Italy, 1846, engraved by J. Whimper, as vignette, p.30.
The Abbey of Santo Spirito stands about five kilometres outside the town of Sulmona at the base of Monte Morrone. The present monastery was built in the early 18th century, after an earthquake all but destroyed the original 13th century building. `Below the solitary hermitage is the Monastery of S. Spirito, founded by Pope Celestino V, but now used as a poor-house for the three Abruzzi. It is a picturesque edifice, some distance from the high-road; and its tall campanile is seen all over the Pianura of Solmona’ (see Literature, pp.30-31)
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