No. 7 Castel Sant’Angelo – Corfú

  • Translation

Article ID EUK4412

Title

No. 7 Castel Sant’Angelo – Corfú

Description

View shows the fortress Angelokastro on the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea. From Views in the Seven Ionian Islands, by Edward Lear

Year

ca. 1863

Artist

Lear (1812-1888)

Edward Lear ( 1812- 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, now known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to illustrate birds and animals; making coloured drawings during his journeys, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books; as a (minor) illustrator of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems. As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry. In 1842 Lear began a journey into the Italian peninsula, travelling through the Lazio, Rome, Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily. In personal notes, together with drawings, Lear gathered his impressions on the Italian way of life, folk traditions, and the beauty of the ancient monuments.In 1848 he journeyed to Greek lands for the first time. He enthusiastically aimed to depict the authentic physiognomy of the country. He bequeathed us hundreds of Greek landscapes painted in his unique style, and equally impressive, thoroughly detailed diaries and letters on his life in Greece. In Corfu, Edward Lear hired Giorgos Kokkalis as his servant. Kokkalis was Lear’s personal assistant and travel companion for the next thirty years. Lear learned Greek and was acquainted with the British circles of the Ionian islands, albeit only for professional reasons.

Historical Description

The Ionian Islands are an archipelago in the Ionian Sea that stretches from the Greek west coast of Albania in the north to the Peloponnese in the south. These include Corfu, Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia and Zakynthos, Kythira (together with Andikythira). The Ionian Islands also include some coastal islands in the south of the Peloponnese. Corfu came only in 734 BC Chr. An. BC in Greek culture. In contrast, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia and Zakynthos were already an essential part of early Greek Mycenaean culture. They later formed the western border of the Eastern Roman Empire. There was a lively cultural exchange during the Venetian rule. The Venetian language was spoken until the 1950s. The islands belonged to the Republic of Venice until 1797. After Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Venice, they came under French rule and in 1800, under the Russian-Ottoman protectorate, formed the Republic of the Ionian Islands, the first modern Greek state. From 1807 to 1814 they were again under Napoleonic rule, after the fall of Napoleon the British took power over what was originally the "United States of the Seven Islands". After a vote in parliament, the Ionian Islands joined the Greek state in 1864, which had been independent since 1830 and to which they have belonged since.

Place of Publication London
Dimensions (cm)26,5 x 37 cm
ConditionPerfect condition
Coloringoriginal colored
TechniqueLithography

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