On Lear's second visit to Egypt, originally planned to have been in the company of Holman Hunt, he set out from Cairo up the Nile immediately after Christmas 1853, reaching Aswan at the end of January 1854 after passing Kom Ombo, some 106 miles south of Luxor and sixteen miles north of Aswan; the ancient Egyptian name was 'Hill of Ombos'. He also stopped at Kom Ombo on the way back, painting a watercolour on 10 February (Houghton Library, Harvard University). See also lot 117