SHAKSPEARE’S HOUSE - CHAPEL OF THE TRINITY 1838 Thomas Fisher ANTIQUE LITHOGRAPH

Original 1838 18 1/2 inch x 12 1/2 inch reprint of the 1812 Lithograph Titled SHAKSPEARE’S HOUSE & CHAPEL OF THE TRINITY, STRAFORD-UPON-AVON.

View of Shakespeare's House, New Place, Chapel of the Trinity and surrounding buildings in Stratford on Avon. The tower of the chapel in centre.
The 13th century Church of the Holy Trinity is the burial place of the playwright and poet, William Shakespeare, whose ledger stone and contemporary memorial in the chancel survive intact. The church has fabric from the C13, C14, C15 and C16, including evidence of medieval wall painting, C15 misericords, and other pre-Reformation fixtures and fittings.

Drawn, Engraved & Published September 2nd, 1812 by Thomas Fisher, (1772 - 1836) 163, Hoxton. Fisher was an 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edition of the original plates, finally with letterpress, and featuring new engravings and facsimiles of previously unpublished material.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.

Image size 12 1/4 inch x 7 5/8 inch

The lithograph is in good condition with some foxing. Reverse side blank.