The town of Thiva, Thebes, Greece
The town of Thiva, Thebes, Greece
The town of Thiva, GreeceInscribed lower left: Thebes/Thiva./ July 4. 1848./(118) and extensively inscribed with notesPen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of white16.7 by 50.9 cm., 6 ½ by 20 in.Provenance:Given by the artist to Charles Church (1823-1915);By descent until 2023Nos. 62 and 63 date from Lear's first visit to Greece in the summer of 1848. He had decided to leave Rome (see no.53) and return to England travelling round the Mediterranean visiting Malta, Greece, Turkey, Albania and Egypt. He travelled with Charles Church whom he had met in Rome in 1847 and they agreed to meet in Athens the following year. Lear arrived in Athens on 2nd June 1848 and met up with Church the next day. They spent a month travelling round Greece reaching Thebes and Plataea on the 3rd to 5th July where Lear developed a high fever forcing them to return to Athens. These two drawings dated the 3rd and 4th July are therefore among the last from this tour. Mount Cithaeron is a ten mile long mountain range in Central Greece and was the site of many events in Greek mythology as well as being the backdrop for the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC.These works were among over one hundred sketches from their 1848 Greek trip which Lear bequeathed to Church and which remained in the Church family until 2023.){kind=link}
Edward Lear (1812-1888)
The town of Thiva, Greece
Inscribed lower left: Thebes/Thiva./ July 4. 1848./(118) and extensively inscribed with notes
Pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of white
16.7 by 50.9 cm., 6 ½ by 20 in.
Provenance:
Given by the artist to Charles Church (1823-1915);
By descent until 2023
Nos. 62 and 63 date from Lear's first visit to Greece in the summer of 1848. He had decided to leave Rome (see no.53) and return to England travelling round the Mediterranean visiting Malta, Greece, Turkey, Albania and Egypt. He travelled with Charles Church whom he had met in Rome in 1847 and they agreed to meet in Athens the following year.
Lear arrived in Athens on 2nd June 1848 and met up with Church the next day. They spent a month travelling round Greece reaching Thebes and Plataea on the 3rd to 5th July where Lear developed a high fever forcing them to return to Athens. These two drawings dated the 3rd and 4th July are therefore among the last from this tour. Mount Cithaeron is a ten mile long mountain range in Central Greece and was the site of many events in Greek mythology as well as being the backdrop for the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC.
These works were among over one hundred sketches from their 1848 Greek trip which Lear bequeathed to Church and which remained in the Church family until 2023.