Edward Lear, St. Paul’s Bay, Malta.
Inscribed and dated ‘St. Paul’s Bay. Malta. 24 March 1866.’ (lower center) and numbered ‘(240)’ (lower right) and further inscribed with extensive color notes throughout. Pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolor, heightened with white. 4 5/8 x 13 7/8 in. (11.8 x 35.2 cm).
[This does not appear in Varriano’s Edward Lear in Malta catalogue.]
Stephen Duckworth and Rowena Fowler’s very useful list of works by Edward Lear in public collections all over the world is now available in an updated version. I have also added a link to the searchable pdf file in the “Edward Lear” menu on the right.
Edward Lear, View of Sermoneta, 3 February 1840.
Edward Lear, Jericho.
Signed with monogram ‘EL’ and inscribed and dated ‘JCS/1865’ (lower right). Graphite, watercolor and bodycolor. 6 7/8 x 9 in. (17.6 x 24.8 cm).
Provenance
Catherine Symonds, a gift from the artist and by descent to
Dame Janet Vaughan.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, London, 13 November 1980, lot 175.
Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 14 July 1998, lot 94.
Edward Lear, Via Nomentana.
Landscape with solitary tower. Inscribed ‘pale blue’ (upper right), indistinctly inscribed and dated ‘—/—.24.1848’ (lower right). Pencil. 15.5 x 35.5cm (6 1/8 x 14in).
[Date is March.24.1848. I read “Via Nomentana” in the Roman Campagna. Francesco De Luca confirms that this is a place called “la sedia del Diavolo” (Devil’s Seat) along via Nomentana.]
Edward Lear, An ancient tomb in the Roman campagna.
Signed ‘Edward Lear. del.’ (lower left) and dated ‘1839’ (lower right). Graphite heightened with touches of white, on buff paper. 5 ½ x 9 ¼ in. (13.8 x 23.3 cm).
Stephen Duckworth has sent me the results of his and Rowena Fowler’s world-wide search for paintings, watercolours and drawings by Edward Lear which can be admired in public collections. The document, which is too long and complex to be published in a format compatible with a blog post, aims at providing as complete a record as possible of Lear’s accessible works and can be downloaded as a searchable pdf file (here the latest version).
In addition to this, Stephen has also provided a complete listing of Lear’s topographical works held at the Liverpool Central Library and bound in seven volumes, together with the lithographs of two of his travel books: Illustrated Excursions in Italy (1846) and Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria (1852). You can access this extremely useful document both as a blog page in the Manuscripts section and download it in pdf format.
The “Sermoneta 8.April.1845” above comes from the Liverpool collection and has never to the best of my knowledge been published before.
Edward Lear, A View of Corte, Corsica from the Road Leading to Bastia, May 19th-21st 1868.
Pencil, pen and ink with grey and brown washes on paper; signed with monogram “EL” lower left. 4.875 x 7.75 in — 12.1 x 19.7 cm.
Provenance
The Leger Galleries Limited, London, UK;
From whom purchased by the Private Collection, Hamilton, Ontario in 1985.
Literature
Edward Lear, “Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica”, London, 1870, p. 173, pl. XXIX.
Edward Lear left for Corsica on 8th April, 1868 in the company of the writer John Addington Symonds. Lear had originally intended to travel to Palestine, but decided to instead visit Corsica with the intention of publishing an illustrated journal. Afterwards Lear explored the island exhaustively, visiting the important town of Corte situated almost in the centre of the island between the 19th and 21st of May.
Edward Lear’s “Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica” was the last of Lear’s travel books and was where he adopted the technique of wood engraving to prepare the plates.
Thanks for bringing this and many previous auctions to my attention go to Stephen Duckworth.
Edward Lear, The Temple of Isis, Philae, viewed from the north.
Signed with monogram (twice, lower left). Oil on canvas. 13 ½ x 21 ½ in. (34.4 x 54.6 cm.)
Provenance
with Thomas Agnew & Sons, Manchester.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, London, 21 June 1988, lot 13.
Lear visited Philae, on the Nile near Aswan, in late January and early February 1854 and again in January 1867. On his frst journey he was captivated by the complex of temples on the island and spent ten days camping in the Temple of Isis. He wrote to his sister Ann on 7 February 1854: ‘It is impossible to describe the place to you any further than by saying it is more like a real fairy-island than anything else I can compare it to. It is very small, & was well covered with temples, of which the ruins of 5 or 6 now only remain. The great T. of Isis, on the terrace of which I am now writing, is so extremely wonderful that no words can give the least idea of it. The Nile is divided here into several channels, but other rocky islands, & beyond you see the desert & the great granite hills of Assouan.’ On both his visits to Egypt Lear felt frustrated by his inability to capture the clarity of light and brilliance of colour of Egypt in his work, particularly as oil dried so fast in the local atmosphere that he was limited to just watercolour. However, he later worked up a number of oils from his sketches including the present example.
Edward Lear, Cefalu from Bagheria, Sicily.
Pencil, open and ink. Annotated by the artist. Lear was in Sicily in May 1847. 12×18 inches. Framed: 25.5×20.5 inches.
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