Catania and Mount Etna

Lear was an inveterate traveler who recorded much of the Mediterranean world in sketches. He inscribed this work with the date, June 16, 1847, on which he trekked to the volcano Etna, above the town of Catania on the Italian island of Sicily. The following evening, Lear concluded a description of the mountain’s challenging ascent with these words: "One is amply repaid by the extraordinary scene above—where you look on the whole island of Sicily just like a great pink map in the sky—with the sea round it so blue, & the dark purple triangular shade of the mountains over that part furthest from the sun which rose just before we got to the mouth of the crater."