Edward Lear (British, 1812-1888). The Campagna di Roma

Lear, Edward (British, 1812-1888)The Campagna di Roma Oil on canvas25 9/16" x 51" canvas Signed with monogram (lower left): further signed, inscribed and dated ‘The Campagna di Roma. Taken from the Quarries of Cerbara, looking/ South-East towards the Volscian Hills & Alban Mount./ Commenced by me from drawings made on the spot in 1859-1860 & completed/for Walter Congreve Esq. in 1871/ Edward Lear./ San Remo/ June 18.1871’ (on a label on the reverse) Provenance: Commissioned directly from the artist by Walter Congreve Esq., San Remo. Literature:  Edward Lear, List of Pictures Painted, 1840-1877, no. 240, as: Campagna di Roma. Quarries of Cerbara. The Elements- trees, clouds, &c.,-silence...seem to have far more part with me or I with them, than mankind. (Edward Lear, 1862, quoted in Vivien Noakes, The Painter Edward Lear, 1991, p. 8)   Edward Lear was born into a middle-class family at Holloway, North London, the penultimate of twenty-one children (and youngest to survive) o