The pass of Monte d'Oro, Corsica; Tor San Eusebio; Figures loading a barge; A tower in the campagna, Rome; and A coastal hilltop castle

Details

Edward Lear (London 1812-1888 San Remo)
The pass of Monte d'Oro, Corsica; Tor San Eusebio; Figures loading a barge; A tower in the campagna, Rome; and A coastal hilltop castle
i) signed with monogram (lower left) and inscribed 'Snow peaks exact & sharp off cloud/ Foliage all Beech. on turf/ small stream in foreground (verso)
ii) inscribed and dated 'Tor San^t. Eusebio./ 13th. February 1845.' (lower left) and further inscribed with colour notes
iii) signed 'Edward Lear del' (lower left), dated 'Oct. 1837' (lower right) and numbered 53.W. (lower right)
iv) signed and dated 'Edward Lear. del./ 1846.' (lower right)
v) numbered '59.W.' (lower right)
pencil, two heightened with white, two with pen and brown ink and wash, one on blue paper and one on buff paper
7 ½ x 10 ¾ in., and smaller
(5)

Provenance

i) Frances, Countess Waldegrave and her husband, Chichester Fortescue.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 12 November 1996, lot 96.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 9 June 2005, lot 101.

Engraved

i) engraved E. Lear, Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica, 1870, p. 161.

Brought to you by

Lottie Gammie

lgammie@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 5151

Lot Essay

The Pass of Monte D'Oro was engraved and published in Lear's Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica in 1870, based on a visit he made in 1868. It was the last of Lear's travel books and the only one illustrated with wood engravings. The other drawings in this group are earlier: the two Roman subjects dating from his time based in the city between 1841 and 1845 working on his book Excursions in Italy (Tower in the campagna, dated 1846, must have been worked up once he returned to England), and Figures loading a barge from his tour of Europe in 1837, during which he spent September and October in the Italian Lakes.

More from Old Master & British Drawings & Watercolours

View All