The quarries of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy

Details

Edward Lear (1812-1888)
The quarries of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy
signed with monogram and dated '1882' (lower right) and inscribed 'Syracuse' (lower left)
watercolour heightened with touches of white and scratching out, unframed
6¼ x 10 in. (16 x 25.4 cm.)

Provenance

with Colnaghi's, London, 1973.
Sold by Order of the Executors of Her Grace Anne, and Members of the Grosvenor Family; Christie's, Woburn, 20 September 2004, lot 1114.

Special notice

Christie's Interest in Property Consigned for Auction. From time to time, Christie's may offer a lot which it owns in whole or in part. This is such a lot. No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Lear visited Sicily in 1847 in the company of John Proby. He painted a large canvas entitled The city of Syracuse from the ancient quarries where the Athenians were imprisoned, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1853. He also executed an oil sketch of the same view as the present watercolour and sent it to Emily and Alfred Tennyson. He wrote to Emily that 'The picture represents the great Quarries at Syracuse where the Athenians were imprisoned after their defeat in the Harbour. You see the peninsula (Ortygia) beyond, with the hills bounding the greater harbour on the horizon. Nearer is the broad green belt of cultivation now occupying the sloping ground of part of the old city-and the Quarries themselves overgrown with weedibilities and stuffed full of foliage - on the foreground' (see V. Noakes, Edward Lear 1812-1888, Royal Academy, exhibition catalogue, London, 1985, p. 142, no. 49).

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