Ancient Gate of Alatri - Edward Lear
Archival giclée
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Description
A detailed 1841 lithograph by Edward Lear depicting the ancient cyclopean gate at Alatri, Italy, featuring local travellers and pack animals.
This lithograph, titled Ancient Gate of Alatri, originates from Edward Lear's collection, Views in Rome and Its Environs, published in 1841. Lear, primarily known for his nonsense verse, was a highly skilled topographical draughtsman who spent significant time travelling through Italy. His work captures the specific architectural character of the Italian countryside with precision and a keen eye for the interplay between ancient structures and contemporary local life. The composition focuses on the cyclopean masonry of the ancient gate, a structure that demonstrates the immense scale of pre-Roman engineering. Lear balances this heavy, monolithic architecture with the presence of figures in the foreground. Travellers with their pack animals pause near the entrance, providing a sense of scale and human activity that contrasts with the weathered, static stone. The artist employs a delicate use of line and tonal shading to define the textures of the rough-hewn blocks and the soft folds of the local attire. Lear's approach to this scene is observational rather than romanticised. He documents the physical reality of the site, including the uneven terrain and the specific details of the gate's construction. The print serves as a record of the Italian region during the nineteenth century, reflecting the period's interest in classical antiquity and the documentation of foreign locales for a British audience. The lithographic process allows for a subtle range of greys, which Lear uses to suggest the bright, clear light of the Italian sun hitting the stone surfaces. This work remains a fine example of the intersection between travel documentation and artistic practice during the Victorian era.
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Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. EU customers have a 14-day cooling-off right. See our refunds page for full details.
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Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Ancient Gate of Alatri - Edward Lear
Our Features
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Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Choose poster, framed print, canvas or framed canvas
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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Artist Biography
Edward Lear
His landscape career ran simultaneously. From the 1840s he made extended sketching tours through Italy, Albania, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, India, and Ceylon, producing illustrated travel journals of careful documentary precision. In 1846 Queen Victoria sought him out as a drawing teacher, having admired his Italian lithographs; he gave her twelve lessons. Brief study under William Holman Hunt in 1852 introduced Pre-Raphaelite rigour to his oils, though his watercolours and pen-and-ink drawings remain his most direct legacy.
Lear suffered from epilepsy throughout his life, calling it the Demon and concealing it carefully from a society ill-equipped to understand it. He was severely shortsighted from childhood and lived with considerable loneliness, despite the warmth of his nonsense verse. He settled in San Remo in 1871, eventually naming his house Villa Tennyson after his close friend Alfred, Lord Tennyson, for whom he composed settings of 212 poems.
His cat, Foss, was his companion for 15 years. When Lear moved to a larger house in San Remo, he had it built to identical proportions so Foss would not be disoriented. Foss died two months before Lear, in January 1888. The Owl and the Pussycat (1871), containing the word runcible spoon, now in everyday English use, is his most enduring poem.
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