Edward Lear, Monte Generoso, Bella Vista (1881)

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Monte Generoso, Bella Vista.
Signed, inscribed with title and dated ‘5.30pm, 9 Sept 1881,’ pencil, pen and brown ink. 9.5cm x 17cm (3.75in x 6.75in)

The Saleroom.

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Edward Lear, Mahabalipooram, Coromandel Coast

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Mahabalipooram, Coromandel Coast.
Watercolour, signature and date lower left, approx. 24.5cm x 49cm.

The Saleroom.

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Edward Lear, Letter to Lady Waldegrave (31 July 1877)

Posted on September 6, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

31. July. 1877

My dear Lady Waldegrave,
I shall trouble you with this gnoat because the chances are that I shall not see you again before I go out of England, – if, (as I hope you may,) you will make a northerly tour to Whitby, Filey, Bridlington, & Scarborough. And for myself, I have to remain with my nose at the grindstone to finish one of the two large Northbrook pictures, so as to take it down to Stratten with as little delay as possible. After witch, & another visit to my sister, I shall go south, like the swollers [picture] So I wish you goodbye, with many good wishes for a pleasant Autumn, & many thanks for much kindness. Both you & Chichester have always been very kind to me.
But, unless you both come to Italy, I fear it will be a long time before I see you again, if at all.
Velieve me
Your’s sincerely,
Edward Lear.

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Edward Lear, Villefranche (1865)

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Côte d’Azur, France.
Inscribed lower left: Villefranche / 29. January 1865 10.45 AM, and with further colour notes. Pen and brown ink and watercolour. 229 by 318 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.

Villefranche is a fortified port in the Alpes Maritimes, around three miles east of Nice. Lear took lodgings in Nice during the winter of 1864-5 and made many sketches at Villefranche during this time. Other on-the-spot drawings, showing the scene from this viewpoint, include one executed on the 30 November 1864 (see London, Christie’s, 5 June 2006, lot 63 – £33,600) and another which was drawn on the morning of 5 February 1865 (see London, Christie’s, 27 July 2020, lot 104 – £25,000).

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, St. Jean, France (1865)

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, St Jean de Cap Ferrat, France.
Inscribed lower left: St Jean. (Villefranche) / 11.30 am. / 5 February 1865, numbered lower right: (51), further inscribed with colour notes. Pen and brown ink and watercolour. 250 by 349 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 on-the-spot drawing, Lear looks over a thick woodland of maritime pine and olive, past the habour of St Jean de Cap Ferrat and then on – to the end of the peninsular – where the sky-line is punctuated by the distinctive chapel and tower of the Saint Hospice.
Over the winter of 1864-5, Lear was on the south coast of France and he spent much time recording its ‘strangely wild and magnificent’ scenery.1 The present drawing was made on the 5th February 1865 and although seemingly a clear day, he makes a point of noting, in the bottom right of the composition, that there was a ‘high wind’.

1.   Diary, 6. xii. p. 64

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, Topoli, Corfu & Noli, Italy

Posted on July 13, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Topolia, Greece.

Edward Lear, Noli, Italy.

Both inscribed, the first, lower left: Topolia [Greek text] / 10.30 AM. 28 April 1864, the second, lower right: Noli / 9.30 AM / 18 Decbr 1864.
Each pen and brown ink with watercolour, the first heightened with white. 170 by 275 mm. and 157 by 247 mm.

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, Near Mosta, Northern Malta (1866)

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

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).

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, Wady Tayibeh, Egypt (1849)

Posted on July 5, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Wadi Tayibeh, Egypt, January 20. 1849.
Pen and brown ink and watercolour over traces of pencil. 140 by 225 mm.

MutualArt.

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Edward Lear, View of Philae at Sunset (1862)

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, View of Philae at Sunset, Egypt, 1862.
Watercolour. 175 by 248 mm.

MutualArt.

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Edward Lear, Wadi Halfa, Sudan (1867)

Posted on July 1, 2024 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Wadi Halfa, Sudan
Inscribed and dated ‘Wady Halfeh [sic] / 4.30.PM. Feby 3.1867’ (lower left) and inscribed again and dated [in pencil] (lower left) and numbered ‘(336)’ (lower right) and further inscribed with colour notes. Pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour, heightened with touches of white on buff coloured paper. 11 ¾ x 20 7/8 in. (30 x 53 cm.)

Provenance
Ray Livingston Murphy (†); Christie’s, London, 19 November 1985, lot 69, where purchased by the present owner.

Wadi Halfa lies downstream of the Second Cataract, on the modern Sudanese-Egyptian border and the landscape around the area was markedly different from that found further north in Egypt. Lear was fascinated by the contrast and in a letter to Lady Waldegrave he wrote, ‘Nubia delighted me, it isn’t a bit like Egypt, except there’s a river in both. Sad, stern, uncompromising landscape, dark ashypurple lines of hills, piles of granite rocks, fringes of palm …’ (Lady Strachey, Later Letters of Edward Lear to Chichester Fortescue (Lord Carlingford), Lady Waldegrave and Others, published 1911, London, reprinted 1971, Hallandale, p. 66). Further examples of similar views from this series of drawings are in The Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (inv. B1997.7.192 and B1997.7.191).

Christie’s.

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