© The National Museum of Wales
Kangchenjunga from Darjeeling
Edward Lear
- Art Funded
- 2006
- Dimensions
- 117 x 178 cm
- Vendor
- Rhondda Cynon Taf Council
The work depicts Mount Kangchenjunga, one of the highest peaks in the Himalayas, and the picture is based on studies made around Daarjeeling in 1874.
It was executed in Lear's studio following his return from India. The composition references traditional landscape conventions and the Sublime, and betrays the artist's delight in exotic detail. The V-shaped format of lush foothills opening to the vast snow-covered mountain conjures up the feelings of attraction and repulsion that Lear expressed in his diary. This work was acquired with assistance from the Wolfson Foundation.
Provenance
Edward Lear; Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Lord Aberdare; Henry Campbell Bruce, 2nd Lord Aberdare; Mountain Ash Urban District Council, 1924; Rhondda Cynon Taf Council; Bonham's, 2005 (unsold).