Edward Lear, Tor de’Schiavi, Campagna di Roma.
Signed with monogram (lower left). Pencil and watercolour, heightened with white and with scratching out. 7 x 14 ¾ in. (17.8 x 37.5 cm.)
Provenance
The artist, by whom given to Chichester Fortescue, and by descent to his wife,
Frances, Countess Waldegrave, and by descent to her niece,
Constance Strachey (née Braham), and by descent to her niece,
Mary Straw, and by descent to
Richard Strachey, and by descent to the present owner.
Edward Lear, La Cava, Italy.
Signed with monogram (lower right) and inscribed ‘La Cava’ (lower left). Pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour on paper. 6 ½ x 10 3⁄8 in. (16.5 x 26 cm.)
The highly finished nature and tight monogram of this watercolour identify it as a studio work, rather than an on-the-spot drawing. A pencil drawing of La Cava, dated 20 July 1838, is at the Yale Center for British Art.
Edward Lear, Two views of Thebes.
The first inscribed and dated ‘Thebes & Cithaeron / 3. July. 1848 / (115)’ (lower right), and inscribed with artist’s notes throughout; the second inscribed and dated ‘Thebes / Thiva. / July 4. 1848. (118)’ (lower right), and inscribed with artist’s notes throughout. Pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour on paper. 6 7⁄8 x 20 in. (17.5 x 50.8 cm.); 6 5⁄8 x 20 in. (16.8 x 50.8 cm.)
Provenance
Charles Church, a gift from the artist, and by descent to the present owners.
Edward Lear, Four vignette studies of birds – a pair of parrots, a flamingo, an avocet and a merganser, each signed ‘E. Lear.’ (lower left). All pencil, with watercolour and bodycolour, two heightened with gold, on paper. two 9 x 7 in. (22.9 x 17.8 cm.); two 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 22.9 cm.)
Edward Lear, The Gulf of Brolo from near Kokkinomilia.
Inscribed and dated ‘Gulf of Brolo. / from near Kokinomelia. [sic] / 25. June. 1848’ (lower right), numbered ‘(82)’ (lower left), and extensively inscribed with artists notes throughout. Pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour heightened with touches of white on paper. 13 7⁄8 x 21 in. (35.3 x 53.3 cm.)
Provenance
Charles Church, a gift from the artist, and by descent to the present owners.
Exhibited
London, Fine Art Society, Edward Lear, A Centenary Exhibition, June 1988, no number.
Edward Lear, Plataea, Greece.
inscribed and dated ‘Platoea. [sic]/ 5. July. 1848’ (lower left), and numbered ‘123’ (lower right). Pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour on paper. 10 1⁄8 x 16 ½ in. (25.8 x 41.9 cm.)
Provenance
Charles Church, a gift from the artist, and by descent to the present owners.
Edward Lear, Bellagio, Lago di Como.
Inscribed and dated ‘Lago di Como. Bellagio./ 6.AM. 27th. & 5.PM. 26th May. 1867./ Pinewood very dark. Stems red gray.’ (lower left) and numbered ‘(170)’ (lower right) and further inscribed throughout with colour notes. Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey and blue wash on paper. 13 x 22 in. (33 x 55.9 cm.)
Lear’s detailed numbering sequence gives a sense of where he was on a tour at the time each drawing was made. Number 169 from the same tour as the present drawing, with very similar blue-grey colouring and also dated 26 and 27 May 1867, was sold in these Rooms, 5 July 2016, lot 120.
Edward Lear, Dendera, Egypt.
Inscribed and dated ‘Dendera/ 4.30.PM./ January 15/ 1867’ (lower left) and numbered ‘(173)’ (lower right), and further inscribed with colour notes throughout. Pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour, heightened with touches of white on paper. 7 1⁄8 x 21 1⁄8 in. (18.1 x 53.6 cm.)
The last of the manuscript limericks does not have a picture. Written in pencil, and in a different hand.
There was a young Lady of Tweedle
Who in Church sat down on a needle
With the calmest of smiles
She walked down the aisle
And had it removed by the Beadle.
The second of the three limericks at the end of the new-found proof copy of Edward Lear’s A Book of Nonsense, second edition.
There was a young Person of Ghent
Who went out to slide on the Trent
The Ice was so wet She quickly upset
Which collapsed this young person of Ghe[nt]
A Blog of Bosh 