Abu Simbel, 10:30 am, 9 February 1867 (383)

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Artist: Edward Lear (British, 1812–1888)
Medium: Watercolor with pen and brown ink, and white gouache, over graphite on moderately thick, moderately textured, beige wove paper
Size: Sheet: 3 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches (9.8 x 25.7 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

These watercolors depict the Sun Temple of Ramesses II, its façade dominated by four monumental statues carved directly from the rock, each 65 feet high, depicting the universal sun gods: Ptah, Re-Harakhte, Amun-Re, and the deified Ramesses II himself. In a letter to his friend Lady Waldegrave on 9 March 1867, Lear wrote that Abu Simbel "took my breath away." In his diary, he wrote: "On deck til 1.30.

Last memorials of Abou Simbl-(the position of which I certainly never saw given in any drawing-tho of near views many)." This series of three images captures, in almost filmic fashion, the drift of Lear down the Nile and the changing perspective on the monument the passing of time afforded. This site featured prominently on Victorians' itineraries for visiting Egypt, even though it required a trip up the Nile. In the 1960s the temples were relocated due to the construction of the Aswan dam.

Text: Yale Center for British Art.