Edward Lear

View of the Acropolis and the temple of Hephaistos, Athens

Lot Closed

February 2, 06:54 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from the estate of Martin R. Davis, Bristol

Edward Lear

1812 - 1888

View of the Acropolis and the temple of Hephaistos, Athens

Pen and brown ink and watercolor, heightened with bodycolor over pencil;

signed and dated lower left: Edward Lear del. / Nov^er1850., further inscribed and dated lower right: Athens. / June 7. / 1848

260 by 435 mm; 10¼ by 17⅛ in.

Charles Church, Dean of Wells (1823-1915), a gift from the artist,
by family descent to H.M.M. Hollis.,
with the Fine Art Society, London, by 1988,
where acquired, in June 1988, by the late owner

London, The Royal Academy, Edward Lear 1812-1888, 1985, no. 37b;
London, The Fine Art Society, A Centenary Exhibition, 1988, (illust. in colour);
Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, Edward Lear. Watercolours, Oils and Drawings, 1988

According to Lear’s inscription he started this large-scale and highly detailed drawing on 7 June 1848 and returned to finish it in November 1850. In 1848, Lear had arrived in Athens on 2 June and the following day he met up with Charles Church, whom he had originally known from his time in Rome in the late 1830s. Church was interested in the ancient world and spoke modern Greek, which Lear did not, and the pair planned an extensive travel itinerary around northern Greece. They became life-long friends and Lear bequeathed Church many of his Greek drawings (including the present work) upon his death. They explored Athens together thoroughly for ten days before travelling on to Chalcis. Church recorded that Lear did ‘nothing but draw, draw, draw’ and Lear wrote to his sister Anne that ‘surely never was anything so magnificent as Athens!'¹

Another drawing, taken from the same viewpoint and worked on over a period of three days (5-7 June 1848) was sold in these rooms 26 January 2022, lot 65 ($40,320).

1. V. Noakes, Edward Lear: Selected Letters, Oxford 1988, p. 76