Philae, Egypt

Philae, Egypt

Edward Lear, 1863

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Artist: Edward Lear (British, 1812–1888)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 10 13/16 x 21 inches (27.5 x 53.3 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Edward Lear, a prolific artist, author, and poet, traveled throughout the Mediterranean, the Near East, and South Asia during the course of his long career. In 1853 he made a second trip to Egypt and completed this painting of the ancient Temple of Isis, visible across the Nile, in London almost nine years after returning home.

He was struck by the ruins of several temples on Philae and declared it “more like a real fairy island than anything else I can compare it to.” Lear made copious sketches of such views while on tour, capturing scenes on the spot in his sketchbooks and then working them up with pen and ink and watercolor back in the studio. These enhanced sketches were shown to potential patrons in the hope of generating commissions for larger-scale versions in watercolor or oil.

Text: Yale Center for British Art.

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