A view of the Temple of Karnak at sunset, Thebes, Egypt

Lear first visited Egypt in January 1849, when he saw only Cairo and the Pyramids. The artist returned to Egypt at the end of 1853, arriving in Cairo that December. Immediately after Christmas, he received an invitation to journey up the Nile and embarked on a trip that took him as far south as Philae before he began his return journey on 8 February. A week later the boat arrived at Luxor, where Lear spent ten days exploring Karnak and the ruined temples at Thebes.