Cleveland Museum of Art

Hardwar, India

Edward Lear

Date

1875

Medium

Watecolor over pencil, heightened with white

Culture

England

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Known for his limericks and nonsense rhymes, such as The Owl and the Pussycat, Edward Lear was primarily a landscape painter. In 1848, he left Europe for extensive explorations to the Mediterranean, the Levant, and Southeast Asia, making drawings of the landscapes along the way. He reached Hardiwar (alt. spelling Hardwar), located northeast of Delhi on the right bank of the Ganges where the river exits the Himalayan foothills, on April 2, 1874. This finished watercolor was made a year after his visit, based on his on-site sketches and assiduous notes. He depicted the vibrant mass of people on the stairway to the Ganges from across the river and the majestic mountains beyond. Describing this site, Edward Lear wrote in his 1874 journal: The beauty of the pagodas and shrines and houses here is indescribable, and the whole scene is perhaps the most beautiful I have seen anywhere in India .

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