A Figure in a Tropical Coastal Landscape admiring two Birds with bright Plumage
A Figure in a Tropical Coastal Landscape admiring two Birds with bright Plumage
A Figure in a Tropical Coastal Landscape admiring two Birds with bright PlumageSigned lower centre: E. Lear. Pencil and watercolour mounted onto a secondary sheet16 by 19.8 cm., 6 ¼ by 7 ¾ in.Provenance: Miss Fraser, circa 1830; K.S. Barrie, 1921; Anonymous sale, Christie's London, 10th July 1990, lot 1 (part); Vivien Noakes (1937-2011) and by descent to 2023Literature: Vivien Noakes, The Painter Edward Lear, 1991, p. 35, ill. This drawing appears to date from the early 1830s and according to Vivien Noakes, the influence of Thomas Stothard's illustrations for The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is evident. Robert Peck (op.cit.) notes that Lear's watercolour vignettes of this type are very similar to the decoration on English and Meissen porcelain from the period. For another example, see Peck, op.cit., no.20, p.28, ill.).The combination of pencil background with highly detailed watercolours of the central detail can be seen in several of Lear's works at this stage, including in Two Wolves in a Landscape (Winter Catalogue 2012-13, no.48b) and A Wild Cat Attacking a Rabbit on a Forest, both formerly with Guy Peppiatt, as well as in the rather startled Leopard Resting in the Shade, cat. no.59.){kind=link}
Edward Lear (1812-1888)
A Figure in a Tropical Coastal Landscape admiring two Birds with bright Plumage
Signed lower centre: E. Lear.
Pencil and watercolour mounted onto a secondary sheet
16 by 19.8 cm., 6 ¼ by 7 ¾ in.
Provenance:
Miss Fraser, circa 1830;
K.S. Barrie, 1921;
Anonymous sale, Christie's London, 10th July 1990, lot 1 (part);
Vivien Noakes (1937-2011) and by descent to 2023
Literature:
Vivien Noakes, The Painter Edward Lear, 1991, p. 35, ill.
This drawing appears to date from the early 1830s and according to Vivien Noakes, the influence of Thomas Stothard's illustrations for The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is evident. Robert Peck (op.cit.) notes that Lear's watercolour vignettes of this type are very similar to the decoration on English and Meissen porcelain from the period. For another example, see Peck, op.cit., no.20, p.28, ill.).
The combination of pencil background with highly detailed watercolours of the central detail can be seen in several of Lear's works at this stage, including in Two Wolves in a Landscape (Winter Catalogue 2012-13, no.48b) and A Wild Cat Attacking a Rabbit on a Forest, both formerly with Guy Peppiatt, as well as in the rather startled Leopard Resting in the Shade, cat. no.59.