Edward Lear, Near Mosta, Northern Malta, January 1866.
Inscribed lower right: Malta / near Musta [sic] / 14 January 1866. 11am / 26. Pen and brown ink and watercolour, heightened with bodycolour. 357 by 517 mm
Provenance
The Rev. Percy Mordaunt Barnard (1868-1941) and his wife Alice, née Barnand, Thence by descent to their daughter, Nea Morin (1905-1986), Thence by descent to the present owners.
In this large on-the-spot drawing Lear looks south across a valley laden with bushy ‘caruba’ trees, past the town of Mosta, with its celebrated ‘Rotunda’, and on to the walled city of Mdina, which served as Malta’s capital from ancient times through the middle of the 16th century. Punctuating the sky in dramatic fashion are the dome and belfries of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Lear visited Malta on three separate occasions: in 1848, 1862 and once again in 1866. The present work dates from this final tour. An ‘exhibition type’ watercolour, which may have been based on the present drawing, was sold in the these rooms on 6 June 2007, lot 210 (£10,800).
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