Jerusalem from near the Mount of Olives

Edward Lear (1812-1888)
Jerusalem from near the Mount of Olives

Inscribed lower left: Jerusalem/25-26 April/1858
Pen and grey and brown ink and watercolour
21 by 32cm., 8 ¼ by 12 ½ in.

Provenance:
With the Fine Art Society, February 1973;
Private Collection, London;
With Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, 2008, where bought by the present owner

Lear arrived in Jerusalem from his home on Corfu on 27th March 1858. The city was busy with Easter tourists however so he continued to Petra returning to Jerusalem on 20th April. He began work on a painting of Jerusalem at sunset which Lady Waldegrave had commissioned. He had problems finding a suitable viewpoint until he `stumbled on an oblique North-East view, which I mean to paint' (Letter to Lady Waldegrave, 27th May 1858, Somerset Record Office, Taunton). This was a view taken from the Mount of Olives with a higher viewpoint than the present drawing. He spent two weeks studying this view, during this time he executed the present drawing