Author Archives: Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, The Pyramids Road (or, have you got a million?)

Posted on March 7, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, The Pyramids Road, Gizeh. Signed with monogram and dated EL.1873 lower left. Oil on canvas. Unframed: 53 by 104cm., 21 by 41in. Provenance Commissioned by Thomas George Baring, 1st Earl Northbrook before 1872 The Fine Art Society, by whom sold to … Continue reading →

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Little Bits of Nonsense

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Here is another sequence of illustrated limericks that appeared in the early American comics supplements, in this case in the Detroit Free Press of 22 November, 1902. I have been unable to find more instalments. Thanks to Sunday Press Books‘ Peter … Continue reading →

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Yale’s Edward Lear Archive

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Stephen Duckworth informs me of an interesting archive at Yale: The Yale Center for British Art has long been known for having the second largest collection of Lear drawings in the world, after the Houghton Library at Harvard. Most of … Continue reading →

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Irish Literary ‘Learics’

Posted on February 28, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

I have long thought that the word “learic” was an invention of modrn limerick scholars desperate to find a way to justify the word “limerick,” whose origin as it is applied to Edward Lear’s nonsenses is mysterious, but here is … Continue reading →

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An Exile in Paradise: The Adventures of Edward Lear

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Derek Smith recently uploaded the three episodes of An Exile in Paradise: The Adventures of Edward Lear to YouTube. A three part series In 1848 Edward Lear, writer and illustrator of nonsense verse, set out on an epic journey through … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear, Fomm Ir-Rih, Malta (1866)

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Fomm Ir-Rih, Malta. Pen and brown ink and watercolour; inscribed, lower right: Fommer Rih / 2 P.M /  March 1 1866 / 79, further inscribed with colour notes, unframed. 153 by 253 mm. Provenance Sale, London, Bonham’s, 16 September 2009, lot 163; … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear, Ascalon, Palestine

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Ascalon, Palestine. Watercolour over pencil, heightened with touches of bodycolour; signed with monogram lower right. 105 by 205 mm. Provenance John, Lord D’Ayton (1922-2003); thence by descent to the present owners. The sculptor Thomas Woolner (1825-1892) believed that … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear, The River Nile at Abou Seir, the Second Cataract (1867)

Posted on February 14, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, The River Nile at Abou Seir, the Second Cataract, Egypt. Pen and brown and grey ink with watercolour over pencil, heightened with white on buff-coloured paper; inscribed in ink and in pencil, lower left: Abou Seir / 2d Cataract / … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear, Baalbek, Lebanon (1858 / 1862)

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Baalbek, Lebanon. Watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour; signed with monogram and dated twice, lower left: 1858 / 1862. 180 by 370 mm. Provenance Mrs Ashton; Miss Lupton, Leeds; thence by family descent, until 1992; with Agnew’s, London, … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear, The Gorge at Wady Barada, Lebanon (1858)

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, The Gorge at Wady Barada, Lebanon. Pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil, on grey paper; inscribed, lower right: Suk Wady Barada / 25 May 1858 / (215), and further inscribed with colour notes. 365 by 525 mm. Provenance … Continue reading →

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