Ancient Allegorical, Historical, And Legendary Paintings, In Fresco, Discovered In The Summer Of 1804, On The Walls Of The Chapel Of The Trinity, Belonging To The Gilde Of The Holy Cross, At Stratford-Upon-Avon, In Warwickshire, From Drawings Made At The Time Of Their Discovery, By Thomas Fisher, F.S.A. Also, A View And Plan Of The Chapel, A View Of New Place, The Residence Of William Shakspeare, Facsimiles Of Various Grants And Indulgences To The Gilde, With Representations Of One Hundred And Fifty Ancient Seals Appended To Them; Facsimile Extracts From The Register Of The Gilde, The Rolls Of Accounts, &c. - Described By John Gough Nichols, F.S.A. -
RA Collection: Book
Record number
06/5117
Variant Title
Series of antient, allegorical, historical, and legendary paintings
Imprint
London:: Henry G. Bohn, 4, York Street, Covent Garden., MDCCCXXXVIII.
Physical Description
[2], 14 p., 20 [incl. front., add. t.pl.] (pl. [19] is dble.), 24 [i.e. 36] pl.; 485 mm. (Folio.)
General Note
In the second seqence of plates pl. 4 occurs ter, 12 quater, 13 quinquies, 14 quinquies. There is no pl. 6 - and no pl. 6 is called for in the List Of Plates.
Contents
[Frontis., add. t.pl., t.p.] - Preface - List Of Plates - Description Of The Paintings ...; Index; [colophon] - [Plates].
Responsibility Note
In the both sequences of plates a few are unsigned but most are signed as drawn, engraved (or etched) and published by Thomas Fisher; but in the second sequence some are signed as drawn by Fisher, engraved by Hilkiah Burgess and published by Fisher.
The printer is named on the title-page verso and in the colophon: 'J.B. Nichols And Son, 25, Parliament Street.'
References
M. Twyman, Lithography 1800-1850 (1970).
C. Davidson, The Guild Chapel wall paintings at Stratford upon Avon (1988).
Summary Note
This 1838 publication reprints the series of lithographed plates published earlier as A series of antient, allegorical, historical, and legendary paintings, which were discovered in the summer of 1804 on the walls of the Chapel of the Trinity at Stratford-upon-Avon ... (most plates carry dates, of 1807, 1808, 1809, 1810, 1811 or 1812); and adds to them Fisher's descriptive text, first published in 1835 in the Gentleman's Magazine.
Fisher made his drawings of the paintings just after they were discovered in 1804. They were soon afterwards whitewashed or destroyed. These are the most highly regarded of Fisher's lithographs - a reproductive technique of which he was an enthusiastic pioneer.
In some copies (including that of the Royal Academy) many plates are hand-coloured.
Provenance
The front pastedown carries the 19th-century armorial bookplate of Leonard L. Hartley Esqr. Purchased for the RA Library in 1885 (probably at the Hartley sale - see RA Annual Report for 1885, p. 46.
Binding Note
19th-century quarter red morocco, green cloth-covered boards; spine lettered 'Fisher's Antiquities At Stratford On Avon' and 'R.A.'
Subject
Mural painting and decoration - Church decoration and ornament - Paintings - Frescoes - Seals - Charters - Documentary scripts - Great Britain - Warwickshire - Stratford-Upon-Avon - Guild Chapel - History
Art history - Great Britain - 19th century
Pictorial works - Lithographs - Hand coloring - Great Britain - 19th century