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拍品專文
A TRUE POLYMATH, EDWARD LEAR'S OIL PAINTINGS ARE PERHAPS LESS WELL KNOWN THAN A NUMBER OF HIS OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS, INCLUDING ORNITHOLOGICAL DRAWINGS, TOPOGRAPHICAL WATERCOLOURS, BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, TRAVEL WRITING AND, PROBABLY HIS MOST FONDLY REGARDED LEGACY, NONSENSE VERSE.
HE WAS, HOWEVER, AN ACCOMPLISHED OIL PAINTER, WITH HIS FIRST WORKS IN THE MEDIUM DATING FROM AROUND 1840. LEAR SEEMED COMPELLED TO TRAVEL TO SEEK OUT THE FANTASTIC AND MEMORABLE IN NATURE - OFTEN TO THE DETRIMENT OF HIS FINANCES - AND THIS LED TO A BEWILDERINGLY PERIPATETIC EXISTENCE FROM THE AGE OF TWENTY-FIVE, TRAVELLING ALMOST CONSTANTLY THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE MIDDLE AND FAR EAST. HE JOURNEYED UP THE NILE TWICE, IN 1853 AND 1867, EACH TIME TRAVELLING TO PHILAE (SEE LOT 201), NOT FAR FROM THE SIGHT OF THE PRESENT PICTURE, TAKING DETAILED ANNOTATED SKETCHES EN PLEIN AIR FOR LATER REFERENCE IN THE STUDIO.
IN THE NILE ABOVE ASWAN, LEAR'S PREDILECTION FOR THE DRAMATIC AND 'SUBLIME' MOTIF IN NATURE IS SELF-EVIDENT. THE IMMENSE SWEEP OF THE HORIZON BALANCES THE RUGGED OUTLINE AND PERPENDICULARS OF THE CLIFF FACES, WHICH FALL TO THE RIVER BELOW WHERE THE PRESENCE OF MAN IS MARKED WITH THE THE TWIN SAILS OF A BOAT, VESSELS THAT LEAR EVOCATIVELY DESCRIBED AS RESEMBLING 'GIGANTIC MOTHS'. MOREOVER, THE STUDIED, SUPER-NATURAL COLOURING OF THE PICTURE, HEIGHTENED WITH THE CAREFUL APPLICATION OF GLAZES, LENDS IT AN ALMOST PRE-RAPHAELITE AIR.
'AND WHEN THE SUN SINKS SLOWLY DOWN
AND THE GREAT ROCK WALLS GROW DARK AND BROWN,
WHERE THE PURPLE RIVER ROLLS FAST AND DIM
AND THE IVORY IBIS STARLIKE SKIM,
WING TO WING WE DANCE AROUND'
(FROM THE PELICAN CHORUS, 1867, BY EDWARD LEAR)
HE WAS, HOWEVER, AN ACCOMPLISHED OIL PAINTER, WITH HIS FIRST WORKS IN THE MEDIUM DATING FROM AROUND 1840. LEAR SEEMED COMPELLED TO TRAVEL TO SEEK OUT THE FANTASTIC AND MEMORABLE IN NATURE - OFTEN TO THE DETRIMENT OF HIS FINANCES - AND THIS LED TO A BEWILDERINGLY PERIPATETIC EXISTENCE FROM THE AGE OF TWENTY-FIVE, TRAVELLING ALMOST CONSTANTLY THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE MIDDLE AND FAR EAST. HE JOURNEYED UP THE NILE TWICE, IN 1853 AND 1867, EACH TIME TRAVELLING TO PHILAE (SEE LOT 201), NOT FAR FROM THE SIGHT OF THE PRESENT PICTURE, TAKING DETAILED ANNOTATED SKETCHES EN PLEIN AIR FOR LATER REFERENCE IN THE STUDIO.
IN THE NILE ABOVE ASWAN, LEAR'S PREDILECTION FOR THE DRAMATIC AND 'SUBLIME' MOTIF IN NATURE IS SELF-EVIDENT. THE IMMENSE SWEEP OF THE HORIZON BALANCES THE RUGGED OUTLINE AND PERPENDICULARS OF THE CLIFF FACES, WHICH FALL TO THE RIVER BELOW WHERE THE PRESENCE OF MAN IS MARKED WITH THE THE TWIN SAILS OF A BOAT, VESSELS THAT LEAR EVOCATIVELY DESCRIBED AS RESEMBLING 'GIGANTIC MOTHS'. MOREOVER, THE STUDIED, SUPER-NATURAL COLOURING OF THE PICTURE, HEIGHTENED WITH THE CAREFUL APPLICATION OF GLAZES, LENDS IT AN ALMOST PRE-RAPHAELITE AIR.
'AND WHEN THE SUN SINKS SLOWLY DOWN
AND THE GREAT ROCK WALLS GROW DARK AND BROWN,
WHERE THE PURPLE RIVER ROLLS FAST AND DIM
AND THE IVORY IBIS STARLIKE SKIM,
WING TO WING WE DANCE AROUND'
(FROM THE PELICAN CHORUS, 1867, BY EDWARD LEAR)