Edward Lear and Mount Athos, King's College, London, 16 October 2017

Edward Lear and Mount Athos

King's College, London, Small Committee Room (K0.31) Strand Campus, 16/10/2017 (17:30-19:00)

A seminar with Stephen Duckworth (independent scholar).

"Edward Lear, the landscape artist and nonsense poet, had wanted to visit Mount Athos during his first visit to Greece in 1848. He was thwarted through a cholera outbreak around Salonica which had led to the closure of the Holy Mountain to all travellers. In 1856 he was successful in reaching Athos and spent three weeks there, though not without the illness of both himself and his servant Giorgio. However well over fifty drawings resulted from his visit to all twenty main monasteries, and these are some of the finest depictions of architecture in its setting that he made. His views on the monks are another matter. His journal of the visit hasn’t survived but letters to his sister Ann and some of his friends have. Extracts have been published, but this well illustrated paper makes full use of his extensive correspondence".