Edward Lear (London 1812-1888 San Remo, Italy)

View on the Nile

Details

Edward Lear (London 1812-1888 San Remo, Italy)
View on the Nile
inscribed and dated 'Nayadeh 11½ am Jan .. 21. 1854' (lower left) and numbered '109' (lower right) and inscribed 'Uppermost' and numbered '23' (verso of the sheet)
pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour
2? x 6? in.; and A scene on the Nile

Provenance

with Appleby, London, no. W. 5089, 1974.

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Lot Essay

Shortly after Christmas 1953, Lear set off up the Nile with a party he had met in Cairo, travelling leisurely by boat as far as Aswan and the first cataract. Lear was clearly captivated by the form of the Egyptian boats; in his letter of 4 January 1854 to his sister Ann he wrote 'the most beautiful feature is the number of boats, which look like giant moths, -& sometimes there is a fleet of 20 or 30 in sight at once'.

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