A Blog of Bosh

Edward Lear, A view near Gheneh, Egypt.
Signed with monogram and dated ‘1884’ (lower right) and inscribed and dated ‘near Gheneh. 25 Feby. 1867.’ (lower left) and further inscribed ’50 NEAR Gkeneh’ (verso). Pencil and watercolour heightened with white. 3 ¾ x 7 ¼ in. (9.5 x 18.4 cm.)

The sketch for the present watercolour was begun near the end of Lear’s trip along the Nile, as the date of 25 February attests. The day before, he had been at Karnac recording the architecture and surroundings. By contrast, here, Lear’s interest is in capturing the Egyptian way of life. The present watercolour demonstrates the artist’s enduring fascination with the ‘magnificent river, with endless villages – hundreds & hundreds on its banks, all fringed with palms, & reflected in the water… [and the] boats which look like giant moths’ . (V. Noakes, Letters of Edward Lear, London, p. 122).

Christie’s.

Edward Lear, Kom Ombo, Egypt.
Signed with monogram and dated ‘188[4]’ (lower right) and inscribed and dated ‘Kom Ombos. Feby 20. 1867′ (lower right) and further inscribed ’43. Kom Ombos.’ (verso). Pencil and watercolour. 3 7/8 x 7 ¼ in. (9.8 x 18.4 cm.)

Kom Ombo stands between Aswan and Edfu, about 48 km north of the Aswan. It stood on an important ancient crossroads between the caravan route from Nubia and the trails from the gold mines in the eastern desert areas. The temple complex was constructed during the Graeco-Roman period in the 2nd Century BC and the main buildings stand on a sandy hill overlooking the surrounding countryside and the Nile which runs between steep, narrow banks of sandstone.

Christie’s.

Edward Lear, View from Dabod, looking south, Egypt.
Signed with monogram and dated ‘1880’ (lower right); and inscribed and dated ‘from/ Dabod 17 Feby. 1867’ (lower left), and further inscribed and numbered ‘,35. From Dabòd, looking South.’ (verso). Pencil and watercolour. 3 7/8 x 7 ¼ in. (9.8 x 18.4 cm.)

The Temple of Dabod, begun in the early 2nd Century BC, was originally located about 10 km south of Aswan on the western bank of the Nile. During the building of the Aswan High Dam circa 1960, the temple was dismantled and subsequently given to Spain, in gratitude for their assistance in saving Abu Simbel. It was subsequently erected in the Parque del Oeste, Madrid.

Christie’s.

Edward Lear, A felucca on the Nile, Abu Simbel in the distance, Egypt.
Signed with monogram and dated ‘1884’ (lower right) and inscribed and dated ‘Ipsam [?] Feby 9 1867’ (lower left). Watercolour heightened with white. 3 ¾ x 7 ¼ in. (9.5 x 18.4 cm.)

In this distant view of Abu Simbel Lear concentrated on the way the sculptures relate to their landscape and the overall topography of the area. Indeed in his diary entry for 9 February Lear wrote ‘on deck till 1.30. Last memorials of Abou Simbl [sic] -(the position of which I certainly never saw given in any drawing – tho of near views many)’. There is an on-the-spot sketch of the same subject, from almost the same viewpoint, but without the felucca, in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.

This watercolour is of particular interest given that between 1964 and 1968 the entire temple complex was dismantled brick by brick and reassembled on the top of the cliffs, in order to save it from being destroyed by the Aswan High Dam.

Christie’s.