Edward Lear (1812-1888)

Lear was in London during 1851 when the present watercolour was executed, suggesting that it was commissioned from a drawing he had made during his inaugural visit to the island in 1848. He had been overwhelmed by the island, exclaiming in a letter to his sister: 'I wish I could give you an idea of the beauty of the island - it really is a Paradise...The chief charm is the great variety of the scenery' (14 May 1848, in P. Sherrard, ed., Edward Lear: The Corfu Years, Athens and Dedham, 1988, p. 41).

The Citadel was a recurring theme in Lear's works culminating in two known oils, one at Yale Center for British Art, New Haven and one that was sold in these Rooms from the Collection of Giorgio Marsan and Umberta Nasi, 12-13 December 2007, lot 61.