A Street Scene in Vevey, Switzerland

Vevey is situated at the foot of Mount Pélerin towards the Eastern end of Lake Geneva, at the mouth of the Veveyse Valley, a little to the North-West of Montreux. Lear travelled through Vevey on his way to Rome in 1837. He left London in July and travelled via Brussels, Luxembourg and Frankfurt, where he was on 25 August; he reached Italy in September, was in Florence in early November, and finally reached Rome on 3 December. This watercolour, although presumably at least begun on the spot, is much more fully coloured than Lear's later in situ sketches, achieving the status of a finished watercolour.