(see PICTURES) 2. Numbered drawings of Crete by Edward Lear
1 - 50 : 12 to 27 April, 1864 Note : Where Lear refers in his Journal to making one of these drawings, this is shown after the drawing number below byJ Each entry has the following details where available : Lear’s drawing number Location illustrated Date and time of drawing in 1864 Size Present owner, provenance and other notes. For annotations, see Introduction in section 1.
1 Canea 12/4 Private collection (sold Christie’s, London, 8 April 1997, lot 112 with Lear 29). Christie’s catalogue notes give the details here, but no drawing number is noted. If this drawing had one, it must be the first of the series due to the date
2J (see Pictures) Akrotiri, Kanea 13/4 10 a.m. 17.9 x 38.1 cm Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, ID 70.118.34, donated 1970; prev. sold Agnew’s 1956 to private collector; prev. estate of Prof.R.M.Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 Nov 1955, lot 49. 'View of a headland with figures' (exhib, Agnew’s 1956, 83rd Annual Exhibition of Watercolour Drawings; Newport, RI, Newport Art Association 1965, Watercolours by Edward Lear). Yale 2.
3 J Plain of Riza, near Kanea 13 & 14/4 8 a.m. 31 x 53 cm Private collection (sold Christie’s London, 5 November 1974, lot 174 not illustrated, prov. presented by Professor Dawkins to Major Alexander Fielding DSO, £315). Yale 1.
4 Plain between Canea and Kastelli 14/4 10 a.m. 15.2 x 37.8 cm Dawkins sale 1955, lot 50 – sold to Agnew, £30 and thence to private collector 1956. Yale 3 - 'Plain of Riza - and Canea; 10 and 11am'.
5 Khanea 14/4 11 a.m. 17.8 x 53.3 cm Toledo Museum of Art (illus. RF p.29), ID 1958.34, acquired 1958 from Colnaghi, prev. estate of Prof R.M. Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 Nov 1955, lot 51, £42. 'Fishermen in a rocky inlet in the foreground'. FMT 522 ‘colours all very Sicilian’
6 J Canea 15/4 9 a.m. 37.0 x 58.0 cm Private collection. Dawkins sale 1955, lot 52 sold to Spink, £80. 'From above an olive grove behind the town, mountains on the far side of the bay'. Yale 4.
7 J Suda Bay, Canea 15/4 12.30 p.m. 35.5 x 59.0 cm Hofer collection in 1968 (illus. Philip Hofer, Edward Lear as a Landscape Draughtsman, Harvard University Press 1967, plate 63;exhib. Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts 1968, cat 42; illus. The Connoisseur, January 1967) ‘One of Lear’s finest Aegean scenes is this rocky view with snow-capped Mount Ida in the distance’ – Hofer in exhibition catalogue.FMT 523, pl.332. Yale 5.
8 J Suda Bay 15/4 2.15 p.m. 22.5 x 36 cm Private collection (acquired from Spinks, previously sold in 1955 to private collector by Agnew, from estate of Prof. R.M. Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 November 1955, Lot 53, £45, 'Looking towards Cape Drepano'). Yale 7.
9 J Suda Bay 15/4 23 x 33 cm Private collection (sold Phillips, London, 21 November 1988, lot 48, £2,600) ?Yale 6.
10 No details found Possibly Mt.Ida from Akrotiri - Yale 6. Apl 14 - Apl 15 p.m., together with Lear 9 on same mount.
11 Canea, Crete 15/4, 6 p.m. 35 x 55 cm British School at Athens, Sir Arthur Evans bequest in 1936, previously in John Pendlebury’s office at Knossos. Yale 8.
11A Presumed to exist as 11B does. No details found
11B Suda Bay, Khanea Undated 15.9 x 25.1 cm Private collection (sold Christie’s London, 9 November 1999, lot 105 illustrated, provenance Winifred Lamb, £2,990 incl. prem)
12 J Khanea 17/4 7-8.30 a.m. and 6.15 p.m. 35.6 x 53.0 cm Private collection (sold Christies, London, 2001, lot 173; prev. private collection of Dr. G.F.Hill in 1930 when illustrated (in colour) in ‘The Collector’, Vol IX, No.35, April 1930, p.167.) Yale 9.
13 J Khanea 17/4 9 a.m. and sunset – 6 p.m. 28.0 x 49.0 cm Private collection (sold Christie’s London, 19 November 1985, lot 272, illustrated, from the estate of Ray Livingston Murphy, New York, £14,000). ‘Promontories beautifully fine …The walls are infinitely darker’. Yale 10.
14 Akroteri from Khanea 17/4 10 a.m. 15.9 x 37.5 cm Private collection (sold by Bonhams, 27 September 2023, lot 1, £14,080 incl. buyer's premium, sold by Agnew 1956, from estate of Prof. R.M. Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 November 1955, Lot 54, £12, as Cape Tripiti from Chanea) FMT 526 pl.334. Yale 12.
15 J Canea 17/4 6.40 p.m. 23.0 x 35.5 cm Private collection (provenance Peter Roberts, to whom sold by Maurice Dear 2008; previous sale Christies, London, 6 June 2002, lot 109, £4,800, previously sold by Craddock and Barnard)
16 Possibly no.5 from List 3, Akroteri and Suda Bay, 18/4
17 Akroteri, from above Mournies 18/4 9.5 x 35.5 cm Private collection (exhib. Craddock and Barnard 1937 (or earlier), One Hundred Landscape Drawings by Edward Lear, cat. 58, ‘fine panoramic effect’, 4 guineas). FMT 528 Yale 14
18 J Perivolia tis Kaneas 18/4 2 p.m. 16.0 x 24.1 cm Private collection (sold by Fine Art Society 1979; exhibited by them in ‘The Rediscovery of Greece, Travellers and Romantics in the 19th century’, June 1979, cat. 137; prev. sold Christie’s London, 22 November 1977, lot 191 not illustrated, £250; previously exhib. Craddock and Barnard 1937, One Hundred Landscape Drawings by Edward Lear, cat 59). FMT 529. Yale 15.
18 A-D? Possibly Dawkins lot 63 (but date 23/4) – see also no.37 on list 3
18E Arum Lily 17/4 17 x 9 cm Private collection (sold Sotheby’s, USA, 1994). Yale 17 (with Canea scraps) Lear described arum lilies in his Journal on 18, not 17 April.
19No details found
20 Pyrgo, Kanea 18/4 4 p.m. 16.2 x 25.1 cm Private collection (sold by Christies London, 3 July 2012, lot 162, £6,250. A previous dealer F.R.Meatyard from label on back).
21No details found
22 (see Pictures) Kanea 19/4 9 a.m. 32.4 x 50.3 cm The image is of Porta Retimiota, on the south side of the city's Venetian walls. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (illus. RF p.35), ID 73.204.30, donated 1973, prev. sold Agnew’s 1956, prev. estate of Prof.R.M.Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 Nov 1955, lot 56, 'A native bazaar inside the walls of Canea' (exhib. Agnew’s 1956, 83rd Annual Exhibition of Watercolour Drawings;Newport; RI, Newport Art Association 1965, Watercolors by Edward Lear; Providence, RI, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design 1972, Selection II, British Watercolors and Drawings from the Museum’s Collection; as above 1982, How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear cat. 29; Fine Art Society Oct/Nov 1983 The Travels of Edward Lear cat.58). Yale 18. Shows street market by one of the gates
23 Kanea 19/4 1 p.m. 27.9 x 48.3 cm Private collection (illustrated in ‘The Collector’, Vol IX, No.35, April 1930, p.166; exhib. Craddock and Barnard 1937, One Hundred Landscape Drawings by Edward Lear, cat. 60, ‘the town from the sea, with distant hills on the left. 10 guineas). FMT 530. Yale 20.
24 J Walls of Khanea 20/4 9 a.m. 19.0 x 34.3 cm The image represents San Dimitrio Bastion (also known as Schiavo Bastion or Lado Bastion), on the southwest corner of the Venetian walls. Private collection (sold Christie’s, Myles Place, Salisbury, 25 October 1993,` lot 645 illustrated, £4,140 incl. premium; prev. Fine Art Society acquired from estate of Prof. R.M. Dawkins sold at Sotheby’s 30 November 1955, one of two drawings lot 57 sold for £45). Yale 21 (with scraps).
25 J (see Pictures) Katholiko, Akrotiri 21/4 1 p.m. 35.5 x 51 cm Private collection (sold Sothebys, London, 7 June 2006, lot 395, £5,800; prev. Hon. Steven Runciman acquired from estate of Prof. R.M. Dawkins sold at Sotheby’s 30 November 1955, lot 58, £35). Yale 22. Shows a gorge with the deserted Katholiko monastery and a bridge (also pictured on Pictures page with a 2009 photograph of the same view)
26 No details found, but details for no. 27 may instead apply to 26 as the numbered drawings have not been seen.
27 Agia Triada, Akrotiri 22/4 7 a.m. 20.6 x 34.5cm Private collection (sold from estate of Prof. R.M.Dawkins sold at Sothebys 30 November 1955 as 'Village in a plain, and another' , lot 59 sold Finch £13). Yale 23.
28 J Agia Triada, Akrotiri 22/4 8 a.m. 31.6 x 50.3 cm Ashmolean Museum, WA 2011.5.20 (prev. sold Sothebys, London 3 April 1996, lot 191 illustrated, £9,000; prev. private collection acquired from Agnews who acquired from estate of Prof. R.M. Dawkins sold at Sothebys 30 November 1955, lot 60, £62). Yale 24
29 J Akrotiri 22/4 10 a.m. 19.7 x 24.7 cm The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Lloyd and Margit Cotsen, 2020.123.3 (sold Christie’s London, 8 April 1997, lot 112 illustrated, together with a view of Canea (? Lear 1) for £3,335 incl. premium; sold to private collector in 1956 by Agnew; exhib. by them Feb/March 1956, cat.60, as ‘A Shrine near Canea, Crete’; acquired by Agnew from estate of Prof. R.M. Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 November 1955, lot 61, £28, 'A shrine in a mountain pass'). Yale 26 (? with 30) Shows a Byzantine chapel on a hillside.
30 J Akroteri 22/4 10 a.m. 17.2 x 31.1 cm Private collection, from Agnew's – ‘time and asphodels’ Possibly no.8 in List 2 – location, date and measurement same/similar. FMT 531 pl.333
31 J Kanea from Akrotiri 22/4 noon to 12.30 33 x 53.9 cm Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, ID 80.239.10, donated 1980, prev. private collector acquired from Colnaghi 1957, prev. estate of Prof.R.M.Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 November 1955, lot 62 (exhib. Newport, RI, Newport Art Association 1965, Watercolors by Edward Lear; Providence, RI, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design 1972, Selection II, British Watercolors and Drawings from the Museum’s Collection; as above 1982, How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear cat.27; Fine Art Society Oct/Nov 1983, The Travels of Edward Lear cat.59; Royal Academy of Arts, London 1985, Edward Lear 1812-1888 cat. 23). Yale 27.
32 Khanea Undated 14.6 x 23.5 cm Private collection (sold Christie’s Glasgow, 26 June 1992, lot 603 illustrated). The image is of Porta Retimiota, on the south side of the city's Venetian walls.
33No details found.
34 View near Perivolia 23/4 8.30 a.m. No other details found. Yale 29.
35 (see Pictures) Perivolia, Kanea 23/4 11 a.m. 37.0 x 54.00 cm Private collection (prev. with James Mackinnon (2021)) Yale 30.
36No details found.
36A No details found.
36B Plain of Khanea near Mournies 23/4 1 p.m. 12.3 x 21.8 cm Private collection, formerly owned by Dame Joan Evans List of names in bottom left hand corner : Clive, Ellen, Emily T(ennyson), F.L(ushington).
37No details found - Lear did no drawing on 24 April, and on 25 and 26 April was describing Arab sands at Halepa, Aghios Theodoros island and Platania
38No details found.
39 No details found.
40 Platania (river) 26/4 No other details found. Yale 33.
41 (see Pictures) Agios Theodoros, near Platania 26/4 11 a.m. 15.3 x 28.3 cm Private collection. Sold Gorringes 3 December 2019, lot 368, Hammer £3,400. Yale 31.
42 J Platania 26/4 11 a.m. 18.0 x 54.0 cm National Art Gallery of New Zealand (illus. RF p.42) purchased 1957 (prev. acquired by Fine Art Society from estate of Prof. R.M. Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 November 1955, lot 65, £20. 'A hill-top village near the sea, flowering aloes by a track'). Yale 32.
43 Gonia (looking west) 26/4 No other details found - probably Dawkins Lot 66 - coast near Gonia , 26/4, 5.15 p.m. 16.5 x 53.3 cm. Yale 34.
44 J Gonia (looking east) 26/4 5.30 p.m. 28.2 x 52.9 cm Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, acquired 2005, ID WA2005.25 Yale 35. Rocks and sea
45 Gonia 26/4 6 p.m. Private collection, from Agnew's, recorded in Bridgeman Art Library, photo from Agnew’s
46 Gonia and monastery 26 & 27/4 No other details found. Yale 36.
47 Gonia 27/4 7.30am Probably estate of Prof.R.M.Dawkins, sold Sotheby’s 30 November 1955, lot 67, 35.5 x 54.0 cm. sold Heathcoat-Amory, £85. 'A fortified monastery near the coast'. Yale 37.
48 Khania, the coast No date 20.0 x 35.5 cm Inscr. ‘All windy and rain – distance obscure’ FMT 525 – private collection
49No details found
50 Near Nopia 27/4 Noon No other details found. Yale 39.
