Catania and Mount Etna
1847
Medium
Oil on board
Dimensions
12 1/4 x 19 in. (31.1 x 48.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1961
Accession Number
61.233
Tags
Art Historical Context
Edward Lear's *Catania and Mount Et* (1847) captures the awe-inspiring Sicilian landscape, where the bustling coastal city of Catania nestles at the foot of the towering, often-smoldering volcano Mount Etna Painted in oil on board—a compact 12¼ × 19 inches—this intimate work showcases Lear's masterful ability to evoke the sublime drama of nature. The modest dimensions suggest it may have been a preparatory study, blending precise observation with atmospheric effects typical of Romantic-era landscapes. Best known today for his whimsical nonsense poetry like "The Owl and the Pussycat," Lear was...
About the Artist
Edward Lear
Edward Lear (1812–1888) was a British artist, illustrator, author, and poet whose creative output ranged from meticulous natural history illustration to landscape painting and the beloved comic verse of his limericks and nonsense poetry. Born in London as the twentieth of twenty-one children, Lear largely educated himself as a draughtsman and began his professional career illustrating parrots for ...