Inscribed and dated: Kandy, Dec. 2nd 1874, 7.45 a.m and variously with notes of subject, scale and colour

Watercolour, pen and ink, 16 by 34.5 cm.

Provenance: Thomas Agnew and Sons

Lear arrived in India on 22nd November 1873 in a state of feverish excitement at the ‘myriad of impossible picturesqueness’ that lay before him to capture. He travelled widely in all directions arriving toward the end of his journey in the much anticipated Sri Lanka. But although Lear had long dreamt of the landscapes of this island, by the time he and his servant and companion, Giorgio, arrived in November 1874, both were tired from the exertions of the previous months and, in early December, Giorgio contracted dysentery. Consequently, their stay in Sri Lanka was brief, just a few weeks, and Lear’s depictions of the island are rare.

Lear took the train from Colombo to Kandy on 1st December which he found was a ‘singularly comfortable one’ taking two rooms at the Oriental on arrival. He found Kandy damp but delightfully quiet after the raucousness of Colombo. But his was the first day that Giorgio began to endure stomach pains – described by Lear in his diaries as ‘dolore do panza’ or indigestion – but which over the next two days was to be diagnosed as dysentery. He record drawing various views in the morning of the 2nd December before meeting with his friends, the Barings, at Government House. Lear himself was suffering from a bad sore throat and found his spirits slumping in the face off incessant rain. Advised to return to Colombo for the sake of Giorgio’s health, they returned to the coast on 7th December and, once a local doctor had advised that Giorgio was well enough to travel, they boarded the Asia headed for Tuticorin on 12th December.