Albania in the Painting of Edward Lear (1848)

Albanien in der Kunst des Malers Edward Lear (1848)

Pikturat shqiptare të Eduard Lirit (Edward Lear, 1848)

EDL006 - Edward Lear: ‘The Pass of Tyrana.’ View of Mount Tomorr in central Albania, looking southwards from the Krraba Pass between Elbasan and Tirana. 27 September 1848. “How glorious, in spite of the dimming sirocco haze, was the view from the summit, as my eyes wandered over the perspective of winding valley and stream to the farthest edge of the horizon - a scene realizing the fondest fancies of artist imagination! The wide branching oak, firmly rivetted in crevices, all tangled over with fern and creepers, hung half-way down the precipices of the giant crag, while silver-white goats (which chime so picturesquely in such landscapes as this) stood motionless as statues on the highest pinnacle, sharply defined against the clear blue sky. Here and there the broken foreground of rocks piled on rocks, was enlivened by some Albanians who toiled upwards, now shadowed by spreading beeches, now glittering in the bright sun on slopes of the greenest lawn, studded over with tufted trees…” Edward Lear in Albania (London 2008), p. 46.