Description
Pen and brown ink and watercolour. After his trip up the Nile in 1867, Lear had originally intended to continue on to Palestine but instead he travelled to the Italian Lakes, visiting Garda, Idro, Iseo, Varese, Como and Maggiore before arriving at Orta on 1st June. He drew the present watercolour at dawn and spent the morning walking before lunching at Pettinasco then napped until 2.30pm. In the afternoon he drew 'bits of the beautiful foreground ' rye & vine & rock & fern' (Diary, 2nd June 1867, Houghton Library, Harvard) before hurrying back to his hotel before a thunderstorm arrived. Two sketches executed at Pettinasco at 4pm and 4.20pm on the same day are in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (see Scott Wilcox, Edward Lear and the Art of Travel, 2000, p.107, nos. 124 and 125).
The pen and ink inscription in the lower left corner of the present drawing is a later addition by Lear, over his original pencil notes, and he has mistakenly added the year 1868 instead of 1867.
Image Licence
All Rights Reserved
Image Credit
image © Guy Peppiatt Fine Art
Location
Lago d'Orta, Piedmont, Italy
Country
Italy
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
Landscapes & Seascapes
