PAINTING ON THE NORTH SIDE THE CHANCEL 1838 Thomas Fisher LITHOGRAPH #E&F

Original 1838 18 1/2 inch x 12 1/2 inch Hand-Coloured reprint of the 1812 Lithograph Titled PAINTING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE CHANCEL OF THE CHAPEL OF THE TRINITY, STRATFORD UPON AVON IN WARWICKSHIRE E & F.

Painting E. The Empress applies the true Cross to the corpse with her own hands; it is magnified to twice the dimensions of the crosses of the thieves, which are carried like crutches on the shoulders of a man behind her. The scene is laid in the forest, among the deer; in the fore-ground is a billman, and an aged wayfarer.
Painting F. An important portion of the design is lost. In that which remains the Empress is kneeling before a large crucifix; on the other side appears the half-length of a crowned personage, probably the emperor Constantine, above whose head is an altar with two candlesticks. Behind the Empress is a bishop waving an incense pot. In the sky is a concert of three angels playing on a viol, a harp, and a trumpet.

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edition of the original plates, finally with letterpress, and featuring new engravings and facsimiles of previously unpublished material.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 14 inch x 10 1/4 inch

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