Isola Bella, Lago Maggiore (1839): Art, History and Details

Isola Bella, Lago Maggiore (1839) 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:

Most famous for humorous poems such as "The Owl and the Pussycat," Lear was also a painter and illustrator who wittily described himself as "Greek Topographical Painter par excellence." As a young artist, he traveled to Rome and remained abroad for the majority of his life. He undertook walking tours in Italy, Greece, Switzerland, and France, and sketched assiduously. Upon finding what he deemed a good subject, Lear observed the scenery through a monocle and then rapidly sketched the details of the view in graphite, usually recording the precise location and date. Later, he worked up the drawing in ink and laid in color washes. This drawing records a view of Lake Maggiore in Italy.

Object facts

• Title: Isola Bella, Lago Maggiore
• Date: 1839
• Creator attribution: Edward Lear (British, 1812–1888)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: graphite heightened with white
• Collection: DR - British
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1973.83

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw

Further reading listed by the museum

• “The Year in Review for 1973.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 2 (February 1974): 31–78.

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.