Edward Lear

Frances Braham, Lady Waldegrave and her husband Chichester Fortescue, Lord Carlingford
Constance Braham, Lady Strachey (by descent from the above)
Lord O'Hagan M.E.P. (by descent from the above; sale: Sotheby's, London, 3 November 1993, lot 22)
John, Lord D'Ayton (purchased at the above sale); thence by descent to the present owners

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. 24

The following condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar Ltd., of 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, London SW1Y 6BU: UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The canvas has been lined and this is ensuring and even and secure structural support. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer and inspection under ultra-violet light shows a few scattered retouchings. The most significant of these are two areas in the sky which measure approximately 5 x 2 and 1.5 x 2 cm and others around the framing edges. These retouchings are not visible in natural light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

On his first trip up the Nile in 1854, Lear was moved to write to his wife Ann: 'So far, it is a magnificent river, with endless villages - hundreds & hundreds on its banks, all fringed with palms, & reflected in the water; - the usual accompaniments of buffaloes, camels etc. abound, but the multitude of birds it is utterly impossible to describe, - geese, pelicans, plovers, eagles, hawks, cranes, herons, hoopoes, doves, pigeons, king fishers & many others. 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' (4 January 1854; quoted in Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer, London, 1968, p. 122).

Although Lear was fascinated by the beauty of the scenery and wildlife he saw whilst travelling up the Nile, it was the colours which astonished him most. When he made his second trip up the Nile thirteen years later, in January and February 1867, he realised that his watercolours seemed drained of colour and he wrote 'In no place - it seems to me, can the variety & simplicity of colours be so well studied as in Egypt; in no place are the various beauties of shadow more observable, or more interminably numerous' (Diary, 25th February 1857; quoted in Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear 1812-1888, London, 1985, p. 114). This time he travelled up the Nile as far south as the second cataract just beyond Wadi Halfa and after he returned home he used his sketches and colour notes as preparatory studies for a number of oils including the present work. Here, the glazes of pure paint capture the brilliance of the light which Lear had so carefully studied.

As the label on the reverse of the present work indicates, this painting was executed during the time that Lear was living in San Remo in Northern Italy. He settled there in 1871 and this work was sold by his London agents, Ford and Dickinson.