About this artwork

Lear visited Kefalonia, the largest of the Ionian Islands, in May 1863 as part of his sketching tour for his volume of lithographs, ‘Views in the Seven Ionian Islands’. He hoped that the publication would find commercial success by virtue of its topicality, with the imminent return of the Ionian islands from British administration to Greece in 1864. The seated bearded figure in the foreground of this sketch is probably a caricatured self-portrait.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Edward Lear (1812 - 1888) English
  • title:
    Fortress of San Giorgio, Cephalonia (Kefalonia)
  • date created:
    1863
  • materials:
    Pen and brown ink and watercolour with some gouache and chalk over pencil, on green paper
  • measurements:
    32.38 x 52.38 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Accepted by H.M. Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the National Gallery of Scotland, 2003
  • accession number:
    D 5551.29
  • gallery:
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Edward Lear

Edward Lear