L12040

/

Lot 192
  • 192

Edward Lear

Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Edward Lear
  • The River Nile at Abou Seir, the second Cataract, Egypt
  • Pen and brown and grey ink with watercolour over pencil, heightened with white on buff-coloured paper;
    inscribed in ink and in pencil, lower left: Abou Seir / 2d Cataract / 9-9.30. AM. / Feby 4.1867, numbered, lower right: (341), and further inscribed with colour notes

Provenance

With Spink's, London;
by whom sold to John, Lord D'Ayton (1922-2003);
thence by descent to the present owners

Exhibited

London, Sotheby's, Edward Lear, An Exhibition of Works by Edward Lear from the D'Ayton International Collection, assembled by John D'Ayton, 2004, no. 21

Condition

This watercolour has been carefully presented. The medium has been generally well preserved although some of the more delicate pigments have faded slightly. The buff-coloured paper has darkened a little. This has projected Lear's white heightening more than he originally intended. The sheet has not been laid down,but is instead attached to a non-acidic mount at the extreme edges. For further information on this lot please contact either Mark Griffith-Jones (mark.griffithjones@sothebys.com) or Emmeline Hallmark (emmeline.hallmark@sothebys.com).
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

In 1854 Lear had travelled up the Nile as far as Philae, but in 1867 he decided to explore further south and to make drawings of the Upper Nile and Nubia, as far as the Second Cataract. All the way up the Nile he was busy sketching, making new drawings of Philae and Denderah and many other places he had visited thirteen years earlier, but it was the new country above the First Cataract which was of greatest interest. He informed Lady Waldegrave by letter that the Nubian desert was 'a sad, stern, uncompromising landscape, dark ashy purple lines of hills, piles of granite rocks, fringes of palm, and ever and anon astonishing ruins of the oldest temples'.1 The great expanses of sand and long lines of hills were a complete contrast to the lush green landscape of the First Cataract, but Lear was amazed by the harsh beauty of the landscape and delighted by the magnificence of the temples, particularly Abou Simbel which he reached on 8th February. By early March, Lear had returned to Cairo.

1. V. Noakes, Edward Lear Selected Letters, Oxford 1988, p. 216

Close