Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level D , Case SC, Shelf 23

Mt. Sinai

Drawing
ca. 1865 (drawn)
Artist/Maker
Lear, Edward (artist)
Place of origin
Egypt (drawn)

Drawing

Object details

Category
Drawings
Object type
Drawing
TitleMt. Sinai (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Pen and brown ink, water- and bodycolour, touched with white, on blue paper
Pen and Ink
Paper
Drawing
Brief description
Drawing, `Mt. Sinai', about 1865, by Edward Lear
Physical description
Drawing
Dimensions
  • Height: 15.5cm
  • Width: 23.1cm
Styles
British School
Orientalism
Marks and inscriptions
Signed Edwd Lear. del. and inscribed with title
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Shell International and the Friends of the V&A
Object history
According to Rodney Searight: - `Mrs. B.B. Davies; Sotheby's 22.11.79 (17), via the Fine Art Society.'
Historical context
Datable after 1858 visit to Jerusalem: cf. a companion watercolour of Jerusalem sold by same vendor in same sale (lot 16). The view shows Gabal Safsaf (Mount Horeb) from the Plain of Raha, with the Monastery of Saint Catherine just visible to the left. Several other views of Mount Sinai by Lear are known, including a watercolour dated 1849 and 1869, sold Sotheby's 12.7.84 (167), and a version in oil, with the Mathaf Gallery, London, 1984; cf. also a pencil and grey wash version, one of the artist's illustrations to Tennyson's poems, in Spink's annual watercolour exhibition, 1982 (84).
B. Llewellyn, `Petra and the Middle East by British artists in the Searight Collection, The Connoisseur, June 1980 pp.125-6 & 128. See SD.560 and RA, 1985 (55).
Places depicted
Mount Sinai
Willow Peak
Monastery of Saint Catherine
Egypt
Bibliographic references
  • Searight, Rodney and Scarce, Jennifer M., A Middle Eastern journey : artists on their travels from the collection of Rodney Searight, Talbot Rice Art Centre, 1980
  • The Travels of Edward Lear, Fine Arts Society, London, 1983
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
SD.561

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Record createdFebruary 24, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O145965/mt-sinai-drawing-lear-edward/
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