03 — ARTWORK
Thermopylae
- MEDIUM
- Oil on canvas; 34 x 54 cm
- TYPE
- Landscape
PALETTE
HOVER OR TAP A SWATCH FOR NAME, SHARE AND HEX. SAMPLED FROM THE IMAGE — INDICATIVE, NOT A PIGMENT ANALYSIS.
THIS REPRODUCTION DOWNLOAD THE FULL FILE ↓
- FILE
- 1300 × 829 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Lear arrived at the pass of Thermopylae during his visit to Greece in the summer of 1848. As was his habit, he made a number of pencil sketches which he later redrew in inkColoured fluid used for writing, drawing, or printing. Inks usually have staining power without body, but printers' inks are pigments mixed with oil and varnish, and are opaque. The use of inks goes back in China and Egypt to at least 2500 BC. They were usually made from lampblack (a pigment made from soot) or a red ochre ground into a solution of glue or gums. These materials were moulded into dry sticks or blocks, which were then mixed with water for use. Ink brought from China or Japan in such dry form came to be known in the West as 'Chinese ink' or 'Indian ink'. The names are also given to a similar preparation made in Europe.. He used these as the basis for a painting of The Mountains of Thermopylae dated 1852 (Bristol City Art Galleryan upper story, similar to a tribune, running along the side of a building and open on one side to the interior; in a church (basilica) above the side aisles, over the ambulatory (central-plan building) and also over the west end. The gallery was used to keep certain groups of worshippers apart (women, noblemen).). The present smaller version was completed twenty years later.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r61e508f317cd51,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Thermopylae by LEAR, Edward},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/lear-edward-r7fcc905978e8ce/thermopylae-r61e508f317cd51},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
OTHER WORKS BY EDWARD LEAR
The archive catalogues no further works by this artist.
TRY SAME COLLECTION →