'Near Golosona. 3 Jany 1867. 4.40 P.M. (57)' RMG PU9116

'Near Golosona. 3 Jany 1867. 4.40 P.M. (57)'
This watercolour-view of the Nile near Golosona by Edward Lear was taken in the afternoon on 3 January 1867 during the artist’s third visit to Egypt. It shows a dahabeeyah, a traditional Egyptian cargo vessel, sailing towards the spectator who seems to be aboard another vessel in mid-stream. Barren land can be seen in the background to the right, whereas the bank on the left is lined by palm trees. A second vessel appears in the left background. The scene is bathed in bright sunlight; the colours include pale lilac and purple.
By the time of his third visit to Egypt, Lear had established his individual style, which, despite its sense of detailed observation, mostly emphasizes sensitive colouring and rather swooping pencil lines. Lear tended to scribble notes onto the image clearly marking them as sketches, including descriptive comments on staffage figures or vegetation, but also on colour hues.
In this view Lear does specify the location as ‘Abou Ajees’ and notes the time of day, thus turning the watercolour into a visual journal record of his journey.
Although Lear worked in the tradition of British topographical art, his drawings leave behind its documentary attitude, which recorded landscape and geographical features for the benefit of their antiquarian and natural historical associations. If, as in the case of his Egyptian images, the past is alluded to, Lear conveys it with a mysterious and exotic character, rather than attempting to re-establish the historical and particularly biblical topography which had drawn other travellers to the Near and Middle East. It is mostly the colours in their own right which are intended to trigger poetical sentiment in the beholder and characterize the scene as picturesque.
In the watercolour the vessel signifies present life and activity, but with the beginnings of modern tourism in the region the artist’s emphasis on its traditional build also conveys the romanticized impression of timelessness, equating the ‘exotic’ and ‘oriental’ present with the distant past.

'Near Golosona. 3 Jany 1867. 4.40 P.M. (57)'