ALLEGORICAL PAINTING ASSASSINATION OF ARCHBISHOP BECKET 1838 ANTIQUE LITHOGRAPH

Original 1838 18 1/2 inch x 12 1/2 inch Hand-Coloured reprint of the 1807 Lithograph Titled ALLEGORICAL PAINTING BENEATH THAT OF OF THE ASSASSINATION OF ARCHBISHOP BECKET AT THE WEST END OF THE NAVE OF THE CHAPEL OF THE TRINITY, STRATFORD UPON AVON IN WARWICKSHIRE.

Beneath the martyrdom of Becket were painted verses of moral reflections on the instability of all earthly grandeur, and have been found with various readings in many other places.

Drawn and Engraved by Thomas Fisher (1772 - 1836). Amateur painter, engraver and early lithographer.

In 1804 a scheme of wall paintings were discovered during restoration works in the Guild Chapel at Stratford-upon-Avon. They depicted scenes such as the Legend of the Discovery of the True Cross, the Last Judgement, Saint George slaying a Dragon, the Dance of Death and the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Beckett. Thomas Fisher, an English antiquary, produced coloured drawings of the frescos when they were discovered and published them in 1807. They were soon afterwards whitewashed or destroyed. In 1809 Fisher re-issued these plates along with facsimiles of original documents he had found during further investigations. Though it was Fisher’s intention to publish letterpress with all his plates, a stipulation of the 1818 Copyright Act regarding legal deposit requirements prevented him from doing so. He got around this by publishing his research in an 1835 edition of The Gentleman’s Magazine, then edited by the antiquary and publisher John Gough Nichols. Two years after Fisher’s death Nichols reprinted a luxury edition of the original plates, finally with letterpress, and featuring new engravings and facsimiles of previously unpublished material.

From ‘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’ published by Henry George Bohn, 4 York Street, Covent Garden, London. 1838.

Plate size 9 1/2 inch x 9 7/8 inch

The lithograph is in very good condition with minor age related toning. Reverse side blank.