Hardwar, India (1875): Art, History and Details

Hardwar, India (1875) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Edward Lear (British, 1812–1888).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Known for his limericks and nonsense rhymes, such as The Owl and the Pussycat, Edward Lear was primarily a landscape painter. In 1848, he left Europe for extensive explorations to the Mediterranean, the Levant, and Southeast Asia, making drawings of the landscapes along the way. He reached Hardiwar (alt. spelling Hardwar), located northeast of Delhi on the right bank of the Ganges where the river exits the Himalayan foothills, on April 2, 1874. This finished watercolor was made a year after his visit, based on his on-site sketches and assiduous notes. He depicted the vibrant mass of people on the stairway to the Ganges from across the river and the majestic mountains beyond.

Object facts

• Title: Hardwar, India
• Date: 1875
• Creator attribution: Edward Lear (British, 1812–1888)
• Culture: England
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: Watecolor over pencil, heightened with white
• Dimensions: Matted: 40.6 x 54.1 cm (16 x 21 5/16 in.); Sheet: 25.4 x 39.7 cm (10 x 15 5/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - British
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2023.127

A detail from the museum

Describing this site, Edward Lear wrote in his 1874 journal: The beauty of the pagodas and shrines and houses here is indescribable, and the whole scene is perhaps the most beautiful I have seen anywhere in India.

Collection credit

Delia E. Holden Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.