Edward Lear, The Valley of the Kalama.
Pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil on paper. Inscribed with the artist’s colour notes and dated: 5 April 6/7pm 1857. 14 by 23cm., 5 by 8½ in. Executed in 1857.
Provenance
Sotheby’s, London, 16 November 1980, lot 19
Edward Lear, Zante.
signed with artist’s monogram (lower left). Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour on paper. 11.5 by 18.5cm., 4½ by 7in. Executed circa 1863.
Provenance
Agnews, London, until 1990
Zante is situated eight miles south of Cephalonia and is one of the Ionian islands. The present watercolour shows a view of the town of Zante (or Zakynthos) from the foothills of Mount Skopos.
Lear was introduced to Corfu and the Ionian islands, then under British protectorate, by Sir George Ferguson Bowen in 1848. He re-visited the area in the spring of 1863, when he took two months to tour the islands.
The present watercolour can be dated to this second tour, as he only started using a monogram to sign his works after 1858. He visited Zante at the end of May 1863 and spent a few days sketching there.
Edward Lear, View of Edfu, Egypt.
Pen and brown ink and watercolour over traces of pencil; inscribed lower left: Edfoo.26. Janr.1854 .9 ½ .A.M. 132, and further inscribed with the artist’s colour notes. 68 by 152 mm.
Lear drew this watercolour on 26th January 1854 while on his second expedition to Egypt. During this tour he travelled by boat up the Nile, stopping at ancient landmarks such as Kom Ombos, Silsilis and Edfu. Lear was captivated by the astonishing Egyptian scenery and remarked ‘in no place, it seems to me, can the variety and simplicity of colours be so well studied.’1
1. Edward Lear, Diary, 25 February 1867
Uglow, Jenny. “The Quangle Wangle’s Hat: Edward Lear in the Villa Emily, San Remo.” Lives of Houses. Eds. Kennedy, Kate and Hermione Lee. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2020. 95-108.
Swaab, Peter. “Edward Lear’s Travels in Nonsense and Europe.” Victorian Comedy and Laughter: Conviviality, Jokes and Dissent. Ed. Lee, Louise. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. 75-105.
Nagai, Kaori. “Animal Alphabets: Chesterton’s Dog, Browning’s Rats, Lear’s Blue Baboon.” Imperial Beast Fables: Animals, Cosmopolitanism, and the British Empire. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. 155-87. [Not seen.]
Howey, Ann F. “Singing Her Own Song: The Lady/Elaine in Music.” Afterlives of the Lady of Shalott and Elaine of Astolat. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. 91-127. [Discusses Lear’s arrangement of “Song of Love and Death.” Not seen.]
Edward Lear, The Bingemma Valley, Malta.
Watercolour heightened with bodycolour; signed with the artist’s monogram lower left. 102 by 202 mm.
Provenance
With The Fine Art Society, 1988
Exhibited
London, The Fine Art Society, A Centenary Exhibition, 1988
In this watercolour Edward Lear looks north into the wooded valley of Bingemma, which is located in north-western Malta. Beyond, sunlit plains stretch away to the Mediterranean Sea, while to the left the 17th Century Kappella Bingemma stands precariously on its rocky out-crop. Dotted throughout the cliffs, are a series of enigmatic caves which are thought to have been dug out in pre-historic Phoenician times for the storage of food and materials.
Lear first visited Malta in 1848 and between then and 1866 he returned a further five times. He certainly explored the landscape of the present watercolour in 1854, as a drawing of the chapel and the surrounding valley survives in a private collection.
Edward Lear, Monte Generoso.
Pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil; inscribed both in pen and brown ink and pencil lower left: Monte Generoso / July 24. 1878 / 5 pm / & Aug 5 5.30. Aug 7. – 4.5 PM, further inscribed with the artist’s colour notes. 372 by 494 mm.
Provenance
Roger Pachman Hinks;
Peter Powell;
sale, London, Sotheby’s, 16 July 1981, lot 130;
with The Fine Art Society, London, 1987
Exhibited
London, The Fine Art Society, The Travels of Edward Lear, 1983, no. 19;
London, Royal Academy, Edward Lear 1812-1888, 1985, no. 36
Literature
V. Noakes, Edward Lear 1812-1888, London 1985, p. 122, p. 36
Monte Generoso is situated on the Italian-Swiss border to the west of Lake Como. Lear visited there for the first time in 1878 and was often to return during the summer months. He found the mountain scenery to be inspirational, and in a letter to his nephew he wrote that ‘the views near the hotel…are wonderful. There is one point from which you may (perhaps) see all the plains and lakes of Italy, besides the rivers Jordan, Mississippi & Amazon, the whole course of the Nile, – as well as the cities of Pekin, St. Petersburg & Copenhagen, not to speak of the straits of Jamaica & Joppa with the adjacent islands of Cappadocia, Ceylon and Islington.’1
Lear started work on the present work on 24th July, but the weather turned and the mountains were obscured by clouds. He returned twice more, on the 5th and 7th August, to finish.
1. V. Noakes, op. cit., p. 122, p. 36
Edward Lear, Phyle, Attica, Greece.
Watercolour and bodycolour, heightened with gum arabic; signed with the artist’s monogram lower left. 165 by 260 mm; 6 1/2 by 10 1/2 in.
Provenance
Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Lord Houghton (1808-1885);
by descent to the present owner
Literature
Crewe House, London, Inventory, Vol. 2, 1913, p.56, in Lord Crewe’s Study;
An Inventory […] of Pictures at West Horsley Place, Surrey, The property of the Marquess of Crewe, 1938, p. 39
Edward Lear, Delphi.
Signed with monogram l.l. Watercolour. 12 by 19cm., 4¾ by 7½in.
Literature
Crewe House, London, Inventory, Vol. 2, 1913, p.56, in Lord Crewe’s Study;
An Inventory […] of Pictures at West Horsley Place, Surrey, The property of the Marquess of Crewe, 1938, p. 39
Edward Lear, A View of the Roman Campagna with Travellers Passing a Ruined Brick Tomb, an Aqueduct in the Distance.
Signed and dated lower left: E. Lear/ 1841. Oil on canvas. 9 by 39.7 cm.; 7 1/2 by 15 5/8 in.
Provenance
Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe (1858-1945), Crewe Hall, Cheshire and later Crewe House, Curzon Street, London from circa 1901;
Thence by descent.
Literature
Crewe House, London, Inventory, vol. 2, 1914, p.89, Corridor from Entrance Hall to Staircase;
Manuscript Catalogue of Pictures at West Horsley, n.d., vol. 3, p. 68.
Edward Lear, Rome, A View of the Forum with the Temple of Venus.
Signed and dated lower left: 13 / E. Lear f. 1841. Oil on canvas. 27.3 by 37.5 cm.; 10 3/4 by 14 3/4 in.
Provenance
Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe (1858-1945), Crewe Hall, Cheshire and later Crewe House, Curzon Street, London from circa 1901;
Thence by descent.
Literature
Crewe House, London, Inventory, vol. 2, 1914, p.90, Corridor from Entrance Hall to Staircase;
Manuscript Catalogue of Pictures at West Horsley, n.d., vol. 3, p.69.
A Blog of Bosh 