Lear, well known for his nonsense poetry, was a great traveler. He used watercolors to record the historical sites he visited because the medium is easy to transport. Here, Lear precisely depicts Gethsemane, the garden in modern-day Jerusalem where Christians believe Jesus prayed after the Last Supper. The artist achieved a silent and dignified tone (appropriate for the historical associations of the site) by defining the trunks with a dark pigment and thin brush strokes. He painted the white highlights that accentuate the complexity of the trees in gouache, an opaque variant of watercolor, and the branches in a diluted watercolor using strokes that taper at the ends. The scene retains its emotional intensity despite some fading to the watercolor. The colors’ original brilliance remains visible along the edges of the sheet, protected from sunlight by a previous mount.
AC 1961.138