Lear first went up the Nile as far as Philae in 1854; in 1867 he returned and went even further south. He would have passed Edfu (Edfou, Edfoo) going in both directions. A watercolour sketch, 6¾ x 6½in., giving a closer view of the temple, is inscribed '26. Jany. 1856. 9½. AM' (Christie's 11 July 1989, lot 79 repr.). On returning he painted a watercolour from the other direction, 5 7/8 x 9in., inscribed '6.30pm./Feby. 11./1854' (Christie's, 15 November 1988, lot 44, repr.). Lear wrote to his sister Ann in February 1854, '... on the 11^twe got as far as Edfou, where, on great mounds of dust stands a ... enormous temple, overlooking the village below - & a magnificent setent ... north and south, of the Nile, & the distant hills, & the astonishing plain of green corn'; he had actually arrived on the 10^th, returning from Aswan