LEAR, Edward (British, 1812-1888). The Campagna di Roma.

LEAR, Edward (British, 1812-1888).
The Campagna di Roma.
Oil on canvas.
Signed with monogram (lower left); further signed, inscribed and dated 'The Campagna di Roma. Taken from the Quarries of Cerbara, looking/ South-East towards the Volscian Hills & Alban Mount./ Commenced by me from drawings made on the spot in 1859-1860 & completed/for Walter Congreve Esq. in 1871/ Edward Lear./ San Remo/ June 18.1871' (on a label on the reverse)
25 9/16" x 51" canvas.

Provenance: Commissioned directly from the artist by Walter Congreve Esq., San Remo.

Literature: Edward Lear, List of pictures painted, 1840-1877, no. 241, as Campagna di Roma. Quarries of Cerbara.

The present were painted for Walter Congreve Esq., a friend and neighbor of Lear in San Remo, where the artist lived from 1870. Congreve sold Lear a plot adjacent to that of his Villa on which to build the first house the painter owned, Villa Emily. Congreve was the British Vice-Consul in San Remo from 1873 to 1885. He would enjoy distinguished military and diplomatic career, commanding British troops in Egypt 1919-1922 and serving as governor of Malta in the 1920's.

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Edward Lear travelled to Rome for the first time in December 1837, and he spent most of his time in the city until 1848, returning subsequently in the winters of 1859-60, 1871 and 1877. Each summer the artist would spend time exploring other parts of Italy. Lear started painting in oil in 1838. His compositions were mostly created in his studio starting from his travel sketchbooks.

The artist was fascinated by the beauty and force of nature that led him to create the most poetic of views and landscapes. Rome and its surroundings acted as a great source of inspiration for Lear and lead him to the creation of his first travel book, Views in Rome and its environs, published in 1841.

The present paintings were painted starting from sketches made by Lear on the spot in the tufa quarries of Cervara, east of Rome, during winter 1859-60. He wrote 'there is a charm about this Campagna when it becomes all purple & gold, which it is difficult to tear one's self from. Thus-climate & beauty of atmosphere regain their hold on the mind-pen & pencil'

Lear's brushwork reveals his command of the medium. He uses sweeping horizontal strokes to render the distant mountains with myriad lilacs and lavenders, and rich impasto to capture the texture of the rocks bathing in the golden Mediterranean light. Lear also explores the contrast of complementary colors alongside the contrast of light and shadow in the late afternoon. Rather than remaining studies of terrain, the canvases introduce typical Italian countryside figures "paesanos" that would have appealed to Congreve's post-Grand-tour attitude toward the Continent.