Edward Lear

With Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The canvas has been lined and this has successfully secured the pattern of fine lines of drying craquelure which is very characteristic of the artist and is evident particularly in the sky. This craquelure is now entirely stable and is not visually distracting. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer and inspection under ultra violet light shows numerous very fine lines of inpainting filling the craquelure in the sky mentioned above and other small scattered retouchings. The dark shadows of the trees and foliage on the left of the composition do fluoresce unevenly under ultra violet light but not in a manner consistent with retouching. 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."

This sensational view of Florence is one of a number of views by Lear based upon on the spot sketches he produced in 1861. A peripatetic traveller his whole life, Lear was captivated by Italy in his mid-twenties and spent a great deal of time there over many years. He would later make Italy his home towards the end of his life and yet, though he was enchanted by its ethereal beauty, he only visited Florence briefly twice in his life. As such, views of the city are relatively rare in his oeuvre and this exceptional example is a rare and important work by the artist.

Famous today for his Nonsense Poems, Edward Lear was possibly one of the most widely travelled British artists of the 19^th century. He first visited Italy in 1837, spending a month in Florence in November that year. Having left England with his sister Ann, who accompanied him as far as Brussels, Lear travelled on alone and reached Italy in September. He journeyed first to Milan and crossed the Apennines on the old Roman road, descending over the hills into the Arno valley – the view of the city spread out before him reminding him of a painting by Claude Lorrain that he had seen at Knowsley, in the collection of his patron, the Earl of Derby. On his arrival in Florence he was immediately overawed by the beauty of the city and wrote to Ann to tell her of its glory in terms that are eerily prophetic of this painting, painted twenty-seven years later: ‘The world cannot produce anything prettier than that beautiful city… the magnificent bridges (6 close together over the Arno) – & the immense picturesque buildings of the middle ages – the clear lilac mountains all round it – the exquisite walks on every side to hills covered with villages, convents, and cypresses, where you have the whole city beneath you – the bustle of the Grand Duke’s court and the fine shops – the endless churches – the Zebra Cathedral of black and white marble – the crowds of towers and steeples – all these make Florence a little Paradise in its way’.¹

Italy captivated Lear and he would remain there for entirely the next three years, returning often throughout his life and would later make it his home for many years towards the end of his life. Rome was predominantly his base, however, and he would not return to Florence until June 1861, at the bequest of one of his most faithful patrons, Lady Waldegrave, who had commissioned the artist for a view of the city from the Villa Petraja. Lear left England in May, reaching the city on 8^th June. He spent the rest of that month sketching the city and recorded a number of views of the city in pen and watercolour from the surrounding hills in his sketchbooks. Writing in colourful terms to his friend, the Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt, he described the city in terms that would make any child salivate: ‘plumpudding – treacle, wedding cake, sugar, barley sugar, sugar candy, raisins & peppermint drops would not make a more luscious mixture in the culinary world, than Florence & its Val d’Arno does as Landscape. It is well to see it – and draw it: and its associations are marvellous: yet a mouth of it will be enough for me’.² These sketches and watercolours were then worked up into old paintings on his return to London. The finished View of Florence from Villa Petraja for Lady Waldegrave, which had originally inspired the trip, was recently sold in London at Christie’s, 17 June 2014, lot 9, and another version of this picture, with minor variations in the foreground, which is signed and dated 1862, is in the Government Art Collection (GAC 6950). That picture is inscribe on the reverse by the artist: ‘View of Florence, taken from Villa San Firenze near Miniato, painted by me for Thomas Fairburn, Esq, from drawings I made on the spot in 1861. Edward Lear’. A watercolour of the same view, signed and dated 1863, was sold in these rooms, 28 November 2002, lot 329.  

^1. Quoted in V. Noakes, Edward Lear. The Life of a Wanderer, London 1968, p. 51.
^2. Quoted in A. Davidson, Edward Lear. Landscape painter and nonsense poet, London 1968, p. 142