Clase Fine Art


 

                

                        
                                
                                        Email dealer
                                
                        
			
                                Dealer's online gallery
			
                        
                                Contact details
                        
                

        

	


	

		
		
		



	






	BASTIA, CORSICA



	

	










BASTIA, CORSICA 
( 
	1870
) 






	
		

			
				Artists:
			
			
				
					  EDWARD LEAR  (1812-1888)

				
					
		

	
	
	
	
        
	



	

		
			Dimensions:
		
		
          19.00cm wide
        
        
        
              11.50cm high
        
         
        
            
            
        (7.48 inches wide  4.53 inches high)
		
	







	
		

			
				Description:
			
			
				  Signed with monogram lower left and inscribed variously with notes along border

Pen and grey ink, grey wash and pencil heightened with white on paper


					
		

	
	
	
		

			
				Literature:
			
			
				   Lear, Edward, Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica, 1870, p. 208



Lear's early career was as a zoological illustrator, but his admiration for Claude Lorraine, Salvatore Rosa and J. M. W. Turner spurred him to become a landscape painter. Lear's mature style, of which this work is an exquisite example, developed during his long sojourn in Rome in the 1840s, influenced by his admiration for Turner and his love of sketching outdoors. 



This work depicts Bastia from the north. The town, founded by the Geoese as a stronghold (bastiglia) in 1380, was the island's main port. Lear painted the present view on a visit to Corsica in April-June 1868. His powers of rapid outdoors sketching were invaluable, as Lear's journals reveal he frequently had to take cover from sudden thunderstorms. The contrast between the coolly detailed town and beaches, and the expressively swirling handling of the more darkly-lit foreground, hints that this work may be one of those he completed under a darkening sky. 



Lear is perhaps still better known for his children's verse, but art historians have recently begun to reassess his career on the strength of the artistic style and personality evident in outdoors sketches such as this piece, which were long overlooked. Lear's watercolours were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1985 and again at the Yale Centre for British Art in 2000. 




					
		

	
	
	
	

		
			 
		
		
			
			
				

					SOLD		
				

			
				
	




	



 

                

                        
                                
                                        Email dealer
                                
                        
			
                                Dealer's online gallery
			
                        
                                Contact details