Kom Ombos, Egypt

Details

EDWARD LEAR (LONDON 1812-1888 SAN REMO)
Kom Ombos, Egypt
signed with monogram (lower right) and indistinctly inscribed and dated 'Ombos 1856' (lower left)
oil on canvas laid down on board
10 x 15 ½ in. (25.4 x 39.3 cm.)

Provenance

Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook (1826-1904), Stratton Park.
The Estate of Ray Livingston Murphy (1923-1953); Christie's, London, 22 November 1985, lot 76.
with Agnew's, London.
The Nicolette Wernick Collection; Christie's, London, 16 June 2010, lot 84, where purchased by the present owner.

Exhibited

London, Walker's Galleries, Edward Lear 1812-1888: An Exhibition of some Paintings and Drawings, 1 - 21 June 1950, no.1, as 'Nile - Kom Ombos'.
Springfield, Massachusetts, George and Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, 19th Century English Art from the Collection of Harold and Nicolette Wernick, 1988, no. 63.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Lear had settled back in London during the 1850s and became friends with the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Holman Hunt. He and Hunt decided to make a trip together to the Middle East, and on 6 December 1853, Lear set out on his own, with Hunt due to follow later. Lear returned to London the following year with a collection of drawings made on the trip. A watercolour of exactly the same view of the Kom Ombos Temple dated February 1854 exists, so the present oil must have been painted after his return to London and based on the watercolour. In 1848 Lear met Thomas Baring, later Earl of Northbrook, in Rome, and he became one of Lear's closest friends for the rest of his life.

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