Cerbasa

Lear has written the word 'Cerbasa' on this watercolour. This has led previous curators and scholars to identify the view as Cerbasa in the Ionian Islands off mainland Greece. The view does not correlate to any known place in the Ionion Islands though. This discrepancy can be accounted for by considering that Lear often mis-spelt place names or simply didn't know the name of the place he was visiting. "Cerbasa" could be Lear's spelling of "Cervara" or "Cervaro", seven miles from the centre of Rome. It is likely to have been made as a sketch to later turn into an oil painting back in studio.