Lear, Edward (1812 – 1888) – Sicily; Agrigento, the Temple of Concordia.

Lear was in Sicily with John Proby during May and June 1847. They met at Palermo and set off on the 11th May for a thorough explore of the island. They found the place painfully hot and in extreme poverty. There was very little food available and almost nothing fresh, making it a difficult expedition. In 1938 a number of Lear's comic cartoons from this trip were published. A few show Lear and Proby at Agrigento (then 'Girgenti'), including one of the companions trying to sketch while being attacked by swarms of insects. As ever, Lear was a man of contradictions. Despite the hardships of the journey, he wrote to his sister 'Nothing on earth can be so beautiful as Girgenti with its 6 temples - I speak of the old town and the flowers and birds are beyond imagination lovely.'