In the Spring of 1863 Lear toured the Mediterranean, making sketches for his Views in the Seven Ionian Islands, published in 1873. Lear wrote to Chichester Fortescue on 23rd March, 1863: 'Sir H Drummond Wolff has been & gone & bought 2 of my drawings & Captain Stoker is to buy another, so that I shall have enough tin to pay rent & shut up house for 8 weeks or thereabouts.' Lear sketched Ithaca twice on 1st May, before reaching Samos on the 3rd. On 8th May he drew a 'View of Assos', numbered 143; Lear arrived back in London in early June