Attempted Bloggery: Edward Lear: Desert of Sinai

Edward Lear (1812-1888) is known and beloved to this day for his nonsense verse and illustration. On his travels, though, he sketched and painted more realistic work. His Desert of Sinai, for example, shows his skill in delineating the vast scale of the landscape populated with smaller groups of human figures traveling on camelback. A few splashes of color give a sense of the local textiles. The work was sold on Tuesday in Chicago with an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000.