The Forest of Bavella, Corsica; and The Valley of the Asco, Corsica

Details

Edward Lear (1812-1888)
The Forest of Bavella, Corsica; and The Valley of the Asco, Corsica
both signed with monogram (lower left)
pencil, pen and ink, grey and brown wash heightened with white
4 5/8 x 7 5/8 in. (11.8 x 9.4 cm.)
a pair (2)

Provenance

Thomas Baring, 1st Lord Northbrook.
with Colnaghi's, London.

Exhibited

Princeton, University Art Museum, date unknown, nos. 28 and 31, according to a label on the backboard.

Engraved

E. Badoureau for E. Lear, Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica, London, 1870, one pl. XV and one p. 233 (illustrated).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Having spent the winter of 1867-68 in Cannes, Lear left for Corsica at the beginning of April 1868. He reached the Forest of Bavella on 28 April and commented in his journal that 'a journey to Corsica is worth any amount of expense and trouble, if but to look on this scene alone' (Lear, op. cit., p. 92). On May 31 he spent time in the Valley of the Asco noting that 'there are few views of the kind better worth drawing. Looking up the great valley of the Asco, the peaks and crags of what I suppose to be the summits of Monte Traunato and Monte Cinto fill the whole of the picture with an array of giant pinnacles, finer in its way than anything I have seen' (Lear, op. cit., p. 234).

For two other drawings executed on Lear's trip to Corsica see lot 53.

We are grateful to Vivien Noakes for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.

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