Ventimiglia, Northern Italy

Lear's love of Italy endured for more than fifty years, from his first visit in 1837 until his death at San Remo. The present watercolour was initially executed during the winter of 1864-5 when he was living in Nice. Whilst in Nice he was working on a number of the highly finished watercolours he produced for sale and exhibition and to which he referred as his 'Tyrants'. As a break from this task, he decided to walk along the coast from Nice to San Remo, returning to Nice on New Year's Eve. He would have passed through Ventimiglia during this tour. The later date in this drawing refers to the fact that he returned to the subject many years later in 1883 and developed the composition further, a practice that he undertook on a number of occasions.

Charles Church (1823-1915), later the Dean of Wells, met Lear in Italy in the winter of 1847, whilst Church was travelling through Europe on his way to stay with his uncle Sir Richard Church (1784 – 1873), who had commanded the Greek forces in the War of Independence against Turkey. The two men became travelled together through Greece in the summer of 1848 and became lifelong friends. Church amassed a considerable collection of his friends work.