Edward Lear

KT586

Inscribed and dated l.l.: 17 April.1864/6.40 PM./Canéa and indistinctly in pencil and numbered l.r.: (15) and again in pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour

22.5 x 34.5 cm.; 8 ¾ x 13 ½ inches

Provenance
Cradock and Barnard, London;
Christie’s, London 6 June 2002, lot 109;
Maurice Edward Dear, from whom bought in 2008 by
Peter Roberts, until 2023

Edward Lear arrived in Crete on 11 April 1864 and stayed until 31 May.

His diary tells us that he had a busy day on Sunday 17 April and sketched first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening (see ed. Rowena Fowler, Edward Lear The Cretan Journal, 2012, p. 15).

Lear had a characteristically productive time on the island and referred to ‘196 drawings - & a vast number of small bits’ when working on his Cretan sketches in England in the summer of 1864.

Peter Roberts was a school master and collector of English watercolours who taught English at Oundle School until his retirement in 2007.