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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 Lears 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. Edwards father, was a little worse. He beat up Edward a lot, blaming him for his misfortunes on the Stock Exchange (Lehmann: page 29).
Edward Lears 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), he began his career as an artist, while still living with Ann and Sarah. Once Edward turned professional at fourteen, he started to travel around the world. Henry Stanley was a very big traveler, and took Edward around with him (Lehmann: page 54). This is how Edward got the many ideas for his many paintings. Id name all the cities that he visited in the countries that he went to, but the number of them that he visited is overwhelming. From the several different places in the fifteen countries he traveled in, Lear was able to be inspired by many things, which led him to fame in his paintings.
The following is a list of some of his best, including, Masada on the Dead Sea. (Internet: web). Cedars of Lebanon Masada on the Dead Sea Seven Ionian Islands Venice (his painting of it) After a while, Lear became famous for his work not only as an artist, but a writer as well. For many of his books, Lear used many of the ideas he saw in the different countries to write (Internet: web). He really was immensely talented. This talent made him very famous and very rich. As he traveled around the world, he bought many summer and winter homes and villas (Internet: web).
This of course was after he became rich and famous and started traveling on his own, and not with Lord Henry Stanley. Lear continued to paint and write, from the time he was 20 to the day he died on January 29, 1888 All of this brings me to now, telling you the reader why Edward Lears, Masada on the Dead Sea, is my favorite painting, and how Edward Lear showed that it was the most difficult fortress to break into period. The first reason that Edward Lear showed in his painting about the Masada being the most difficult fortress to break into was its location itself. The fortress Masada was built on top of a High plateau by Roman King Herod (Internet: web) (was appointed by the Caesar at that time to rule the Judean providence. The Masada was his palace, finished in 60 A.
D. ), approximately one mile from the Dead Sea (Internet: web). It stood at about 450 meters high (Internet: web). This made it very hard for any enemy to get up and take over the fortress, that and the rocky terrain of the plateau it was built on. Any invader was covered from an elevated position, making it easy for whoever was in control of the fortress to defend it, which was the Romans and the Jewish rebel Zealots (Internet: web). Edward Lear showed this beautifully in his painting. Another reason was they height of the plateau itself.
In Lears painting, he showed that you were able to see miles and miles away from the fort. It has been said that on a clear day, you could see out as far as the city of Jerusalem, which is over 50 miles away (Internet: web). This made it perfect for the forces of the Masada to spot any invaders heading their way. That way they could prepare for their enemy's arrival in advance and be ready to take them down. Lears painting showed a clear day and if you looked hard enough, you could see the city of Jerusalem (it was very small of course).
The Dead Sea itself could account for another reason. All of the invading armies (there were only two. The Jewish Rebel Zealots in 66 A. D. and the Roman Legions from 69 to 70 A. D. ) to the Masada had to cross the Dead Sea by boat in order to get to it, due to the fact that they were coming from the direction where Jerusalem was (Miklowitz: page 107).
That took a lot of time because the Dead Sea is very big. However it was the fastest way to get there for all of the invading armies. Their only other option to get to the Masada would be, having to go around the Dead Sea, which would have taken even longer. Lear did a good job showing this, when he painted the Dead Sea to be vast and big in the distance.
The third reason of why the Masada was the hardest fortress to ever break into, was definitely the hot Judean desert surrounding it. Jerusalem was the closest city to the fortress (about fifty miles away). The next closest city at that time to the Masada was Alexandria in Egypt. In order to get to the Masada from there, you would have to go through the Sahara and the Sinai deserts before you even got to the Judean desert. And once you got there, you still had about two hundred miles to go before you got to the Masada.
That is probably why both invading armies used the Dead Sea route that I mentioned earlier, mainly coming from the area where Jerusalem was located. The only people known to every cross the Sahara, Sinai, and Judean desert to get from Egypt to Israel, was thousands of years before, when Moses and his Hebrew people made the long journey (web). Edward Lear did an excellent job of showing how vast and desolate the Judean desert was at that time, by showing some of the desert to the right of the Dead Sea. The final reason of why the Masada was the hardest fortress to break into period, was the twin archer towers at the main gate of the fortress. Not only was the forts army able to fire arrows off the towers at their enemies, but they could also drop large boulders on them as well. There were a lot of big rocks in the area, so obtaining them, was never a problem (Miklowitz: page 141).
Lear showed both of the towers very well. Its no wonder why the invading armies had trouble getting through, because of the towers. All of these reasons are what made the Masada the hardest fortress ever to break into. Edward Lear proved all of these points well in his painting.
Personally, I enjoyed doing this project. I thought the painting itself was very interesting with the grand scale that it showed. And after I learned more about the background of Edward Lear and the fortress Masada, I became hooked on this project. This was a great painting.
I would recommend it for people to see if they ever go to the San Francisco Legion of Honor, where this painting is currently kept.
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Research essay sample on Fortress Masada And Edward Lear
