Edward Lear, Monte Generoso (1878)

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

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

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, Phyle

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

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

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, Delphi

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

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

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, A View of the Roman Campagna with Travellers Passing a Ruined Brick Tomb, an Aqueduct in the Distance (1841)

Posted on August 15, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

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.

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, Rome, A View of the Forum with the Temple of Venus (1841)

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

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.

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, A View of the Roman Campagna, a Villa and Aqueduct in the Distance

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, A View of the Roman Campagna, a Villa and Aqueduct in the Distance.
Signed lower left: E. Lear. Inscribed with inventory number lower right: 184 . Oil on canvas. 19 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. 67.

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, Rome, A View of the Forum from a Terrace (1841)

Posted on August 12, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Rome, A View of the Forum from a Terrace.
Signed and dated lower right: 14 / E. Lear f. 1841. Oil on canvas. 27.3 by 37.4 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. 70.

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, From S. Giov: Laterano, Roma (1839)

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, From S. Giovanni in Laterano, 1839.
Signed and dated Edward Lear. del. 1839. lower left and inscribed with the title lower right. Pencil heightened with white on buff paper. 7 5/8 by 16 1/2 in. 19.4 by 41.9 cm.

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, The Acropolis, Athens (1848)

Posted on July 31, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, The Acropolis, Athens.
Pen and brown ink and watercolor, heightened with white on gray paper; inscribed, dated and numbered, lower right: athens – / 5.6. / 9 June. / 1848 / 9.
311 by 508 mm; 12 1/4  by 20 in.

Provenance
With Agnew’s, London;
sale, London, Christie’s, 24 April 1996, lot 85

After spending only three weeks in Corfu, the island Lear claimed to be a ‘Paradise’ to his sister Ann, he was invited to join the British Ambassador to Turkey, Sir Stratford Canning, and his wife, on their travels to Constantinople via Athens. Lear arrived in Athens in June 1849 and was instantly captivated by his surroundings, exclaiming to his sister ‘surely never was anything so magnificent…!’ He first visited the Acropolis on 4 June, but evidently made further visits during his time there, as is indicated by the dates on the present drawing. Lear illustrates the winding path down to the Acropolis, with numerous figures in the foreground. Standing in the centre of the view is the Frankish Tower, a fourteenth century addition to the Acropolis. In 1875, this tower was demolished, as part of a project initiated by Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), a German pioneer in archaeology, who aimed to clear the Acropolis of post-Classical buildings. The project incited considerable criticism, and was even referred to as ‘pedantic barbarism’ by historian of Frankish Greece, William Miller.

Sotheby’s.

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Edward Lear, View of the Ponte Rotto, Rome (1839)

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, View of the Ponte Rotto, Rome.
Pencil, heightened with white; inscribed, signed and dated, lower right: Ponte Rotto Roma. / Edward Lear.del. 1839.

Provenance
Lord Stanley of Alderley,
thence by descent;
H.D. Lyon, London;
with Eugene Thaw, New York,
where acquired in 1976

Sotheby’s.

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