Fortress Masada And Edward Lear
Fortress Masada And Edward Lear
Throughout history, many artists have come about with great paintings. You name it, Leonardo DaVinci with “Mona Lisa”, Pablo Picasso with “Three Musicians”, and Claude Monet with “Water Lilies.” Although all of these paintings were very good, none of them to me come close to my personal favorite, Masada on the Dead Sea, by Edward Lear. This painting is my all time favorite because of how artist Edward Lear showed how the fortress Masada, was the most difficult fortress ever to break into period.
But before I get into the painting, “Masada on the Dead Sea”, itself, I will talk a little about the author, Edward Lear’s life.
Edward Lear was born on May 12, 1812 in the small town of Highgate, which is a very wealthy suburb of London. His father, Jeremiah Lear, was a wealthy London stockbroker. His mother Ann Lear, was just a simple housewife, but a very sweet one at that. However all of these happy times changed when Edward Lear turned six years old. Jeremiah fell a defaulter in the Stock Exchange and the family had to abandon their fashionable life, to which they were so used to. This is where his sweet mother went bad. She became depressed and mean. Edward’s father, was a little worse. He beat up Edward a lot, blaming him for his misfortunes on the Stock Exchange (Lehmann: page 29). Edward Lear’s parents abandoned him when he turned eight years old (Lehmann: page 36). From the time his father went bad at the Stock Exchange when he was six to the time Edward was abandoned by his parents at eight, Edward Lear was living through hell, with his parents.
After his parents abandoned him, Edward went to go live with his older sister Ann in London, who at that time was married to a wealthy English gentleman named Lord Henry Stanley and was twenty-one years old. His sister Ann never turned on Edward like their mother did, and gave him all the love he needed. From that point on, Edward Lear was home schooled by his sister Ann and his other sister Sarah, who came to live with Ann about a year after Edward had arrived (Lehmann: page 38). She too, was very sweet to Edward.
By the time Edward turned fourteen (in 1826),...