Skip to main content
Video Loading
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 11

Edward Lear
Edward Lear, Early English drawing, Ostia near Rome

1840

About the Item

A beautifully drawn view of Ostia near Rome by one of the foremost 19th Century British artists and personalities. Edward Lear (1812-1888) Ostia Signed, inscribed and dated, Ostia/ Edward Lear del/ 30 April 1840 Pencil on blue paper 6 x 12 inches excluding mount and frame 14 x 19½ inches with the frame Ostia was the port city of ancient Rome; it had a strategic function for trade, especially for the supply of grain, and as the main base of the Roman navy. It had a fundamental function during the Punic Wars, and after the final destruction of Carthage, and the end of Macedon's independence; by the latter half of the 2nd century BC, Roman control over all of what was later to be dubbed Mare Nostrum ("our sea") had been established. Edward Lear was an English landscape painter who is more widely known as the writer of an original kind of nonsense verse and as the popularizer of the limerick. His true genius is apparent in his nonsense poems, which portray a world of fantastic creatures in nonsense words, often suggesting a deep underlying sense of melancholy. Their quality is matched, especially in the limericks, by that of his engaging pen-and-ink drawings. The youngest of 21 children, Lear was brought up by his eldest sister, Ann, and from age 15 earned his living by drawing. He subsequently worked for the British Museum, made drawings of birds for the ornithologist John Gould, and, during 1832–37, made illustrations of the earl of Derby’s private menagerie at Knowsley, Lancashire. Lear had a natural affinity for children, and it was for the earl’s grandchildren that he produced his Book of Nonsense (1846, enlarged 1861). In 1835 he decided to become a landscape painter. Lear struggled with epilepsy and melancholia all his life. After 1837 he lived mainly abroad. Though naturally timid, he was a constant and intrepid traveler, exploring Italy, Greece, Albania, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and, later, India and Ceylon [now Sri Lanka]. An indefatigable worker, he produced innumerable pen and watercolor sketches of great topographical accuracy. He worked these up into the carefully finished watercolors and large oil paintings that were his financial mainstay. During his nomadic life he lived, among other places, at Rome, Corfu, and, finally, with his celebrated cat, Foss, at San Remo. Lear published three volumes of bird and animal drawings, seven illustrated travel books (notably Journals of a Landscape Painter in Albania, &c., 1851), and four books of nonsense: Book of Nonsense mentioned earlier, Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets (1871), More Nonsense, Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc. (1872), and Laughable Lyrics (1877) Source: Brittanica
  • Creator:
    Edward Lear (1812 - 1888, British)
  • Creation Year:
    1840
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 6 in (15.24 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Good, ready to hang condition.
  • Gallery Location:
    Harkstead, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1481215517772

More From This Seller

View All
Alfred W Cooper, Young girl by a bridge, Victorian watercolor
Located in Harkstead, GB
Alfred W Cooper, 19th Century Waiting by the weir Signed with initials Watercolour with touches of gouache 6¾ x 9¾ inches 12 x 16 inches with the frame A delightful Victorian scene...
Category

19th Century Victorian Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

John Cantiloe Joy, 19th Century seascape, maritime interest
Located in Harkstead, GB
A wonderful example of the rare and intricate work of John Cantiloe Joy (1806-1866) Shipping off the Norfolk coast with figures on the shore Watercolour over traces of pencil 6½ x 1...
Category

19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Follower of David Cox, 19th Century watercolor, Figures on the waterfront
By (Circle of) David Cox
Located in Harkstead, GB
A dramatic 19th Century watercolor painted by a competent hand in the style of David Cox the Elder. A spirited scene with weather-beaten figures on the waterfront looking out to sail...
Category

19th Century Victorian Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Two English watercolours, Norfolk Windmill; Fishermen mending nets on the shore
By Charles Robertson
Located in Harkstead, GB
Two delightful watercolours, with wonderful details by the highly collectable Charles Robertson. They depict two different aspects of Victorian life, the first captures two boys fis...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

English watercolour of a fisherman and his dog
Located in Harkstead, GB
A very attractive rural scene of a fisherman and his dog on a riverbank, in very good colour and an appealing composition. Claude Hayes (1852-1922) A fisherman and his dog by a riverbank Signed Watercolour with touches of pencil 6½ x 10 inches, image only 13 x 16 inches with the frame Claude Hayes was a Dublin born painter who to avoid his father's wish to make a businessman of him ran away to sea and served on the Golden Fleece, one of the transports used in the Abyssinian expedition of 1867-68, and also spent a year in the United States. Returning to London, he studied art at Heatherley's and the Royal Academy Schools, and then in Antwerp, under Charles Verlat. He worked in Hampshire with James Aumonier and also in Surrey with William Charles Estall, whose sister he married. Hayes exhibited widely in London and provincial centres, and was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1886, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1883, and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, 1902. He also showed at the RA, RBSA, Brook Street Art Gallery, Dudley Gallery, FAS, GI, Grosvenor Gallery, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, MAFA, RBA, RHA, Ridley Art Club, RSW and Walker's Gallery, London. In 1912, Claude Hayes represented England at the Venice Biennale. His work is in various public collections in England and Ireland including the Ulster Museum, Museums Sheffield, Torre Abbey Museum and the Leeds City Art Gallery. His father was the artist Edwin Hayes.
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Frank Richards, Newlyn School, English Watercolor of figures on a Cornish beach
By Frank Richards
Located in Harkstead, GB
A wonderfully fluid watercolour capturing the end of the day on a Cornish beach, most probably Newlyn where Richards was painting from the 1890s onwards. Frank Richards (1863-1935) ...
Category

1890s Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

You May Also Like

Early 20th century Austrian/German kids playing together in a landscape
Located in Woodbury, CT
Karl Feiertag (c.1874-1944) was an Austrian painter. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Franz Rumpler, Kasimir Pochwalski, and J...
Category

Early 1900s Victorian Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Handmade Paper

Flower Gardens at Generalife, Granada
By Ernest Arthur Rowe
Located in London, GB
Watercolour on paper, signed bottom left Image size: 13 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (35 x 24 cm) Mounted and framed The Generalife was a summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid rulers...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Castle San Angelo, Rome, David Roberts, 19th Century Original Watercolour
By David Roberts
Located in London, GB
Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with white. Image size: 9 1/2 x 13 1/4 inches (24 x 34 cm) Hand made gilt frame Provenance The Fine Art Society 1981 (Label Verso) Priv...
Category

Mid-19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Norwegian Barques Lyme Bay Devon And Dorset Framed Victorian Maritime Painting
By Charles William Adderton
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Charles William Adderton. English ( b.1866 - d.1944 ). Norwegian Barques At Anchor, Lyme Bay. Watercolor. Signed Lower Left. Image size 10.6 inches x 14.4 inches ( 27cm x 36.5cm ). ...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Looe Town And Harbor Cornwall Circa 1860 Tranquil Cornish Watercolor Painting
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
J. Wilson. English ( fl.1837 - 1870 ). Looe Town & Harbor, Cornwall. Watercolor. Monogramed Lower Left. Image size 6.5 inches x 10.4 inches ( 16.5cm x 26.5cm ). Frame size 12.6 inc...
Category

Mid-19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

Driving Sheep On Plaisters Lane Sutton Poyntz Weymouth Dorset The Jurassic Coast
By Henry Charles Fox
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Henry Charles Fox. English ( b.1855 - d.1929 ). Driving Sheep. Plaisters Lane, Sutton Poyntz, Weymouth, Dorset 1918. Watercolor On Paper. Signed & Dated 1918. Image size 18.9 inche...
Category

Early 20th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Recently Viewed

View All