Catania and Mount Etna. Artist: Edward Lear (British, London 1812-1888 San Remo). Dimensions: 12 1/4 x 19 in. (31.1 x 48.3 cm). Date: 1847.
Lear inscribed this sketch with the date, June 16, 1847, on which he trekked to the volcano Etna. The following evening, he concluded a description of its challenging ascent with these words: "One is amply repaid by the extraordinary scene above--where you look on the whole island of Sicily just like a great pink map in the sky--with the sea round it so blue, & the dark purple triangular shade of the mountains over that part furthest from the sun which rose just before we got to the mouth of the crater.".