Edward Lear

In March 1864, Lear traveled from Corfu to Crete, where he wrote in his diary of his difficulty in sketching the bazaar due to the stream of Cretans going in and out. Lear’s shorthand method of depicting them here is unusual in his sketched oeuvre, as is his use of gouache and vibrant colors. Lear was not, in general, a fan of Crete, which he called a “sell” with little of interest except “that of [a] floral nature & the delight of the sweet morning air & thorough calm.” Part of his distaste for the island may have stemmed not from the place itself but from his recent forced departure from the exquisitely beautiful Corfu when Britain ceded sovereignty of the island to Greece.