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Lot Essay
Lear toured India and Ceylon between November 1873 and January 1875 at the invitation of the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook. He reached Bombay on 22 November 1873 and travelled onto Benares, arriving on 12 December, on 14 November he hired a boat and recorded in his journal how he spent his time sketching the ghats:
'Got a boat, a large one, for no one can have the least idea of this Indian city's splendour without this arrangement. Utterly wonderful is the rainbow-like edging of the water with thousands of bathers reflected in the river. Then the colour of the temples, the strangeness of the huge umbrellas and the inexpressibly multitudinous detail of the architecture, costume, etc ... I find it one of the most bruyant, and startlingly radiant of places full of bustle and movement. Constantinople or Naples are simply dull and quiet by comparison.' (R. Murphy, Edward Lear's Indian Journal, 1953, p. 46).
Another view of the Ghats at Benares by Lear is in the collection of the India Office Library.
'Got a boat, a large one, for no one can have the least idea of this Indian city's splendour without this arrangement. Utterly wonderful is the rainbow-like edging of the water with thousands of bathers reflected in the river. Then the colour of the temples, the strangeness of the huge umbrellas and the inexpressibly multitudinous detail of the architecture, costume, etc ... I find it one of the most bruyant, and startlingly radiant of places full of bustle and movement. Constantinople or Naples are simply dull and quiet by comparison.' (R. Murphy, Edward Lear's Indian Journal, 1953, p. 46).
Another view of the Ghats at Benares by Lear is in the collection of the India Office Library.