Artwork
Wady Mokatteb
Wady Mokatteb is an ink drawing by the Romanticist artist Edward Lear. It dates from 1849 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
The loose, sketchy style suggests they were working outdoors, jotting down what they saw.
This sketch shows rough, quick lines of a rocky, desert landscape. Tiny buildings sit in the distance, and a few figures wander near them. The drawing is light and scratchy, like it was made fast with pen and ink.
The artist wrote the title *Wady Mokatteb* and the date 1849 in the corner. The loose, sketchy style suggests they were working outdoors, jotting down what they saw.
Next, check out cross-hatching to see how artists build texture with lines.
Overview
Created in 1849, *Wady Mokatteb* is a pen and brown‑ink drawing executed over a graphite underdrawing on wove paper. The work records a barren, rocky terrain punctuated by distant, diminutive structures and a few wandering figures, rendered in a swift, sketch‑like manner that suggests immediate observation.
Subject & Meaning
The composition depicts a desert valley—identified by the title as Wady Mokatteb—characterized by rugged outcrops and sparse habitation. The presence of tiny buildings and solitary travelers conveys a sense of isolation and the transitory nature of human activity within an austere landscape.
Technique & Style
Lear employed a light, scratchy application of pen and brown ink, building form through cross‑hatching and rapid, gestural lines. The underlying graphite sketch provides a structural guide, while the ink work adds texture and depth, emphasizing the roughness of rock and the atmosphere of an on‑site study.
History & Provenance
The drawing originates from a period when Edward Lear, better known for his literary nonsense, was actively producing travel sketches and natural history illustrations. The dated inscription in the lower corner confirms its creation during his extensive journeys, when he routinely recorded landscapes for later use in travel publications.
Context
*Wady Mokatteb* belongs to Lear’s broader body of field sketches that blend scientific observation with a personal graphic sensibility. Produced alongside his ornithological plates and contributions to contemporary literary works, the piece illustrates his dual role as illustrator and traveler in mid‑nineteenth‑century England.
Artist & collection
Artist
Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised but which term…
