A COLLECTION OF ETCHINGS, DRAWINGS, AND EPHEMERA RELATING TO JOHN CONSTABLE, BISHOP JOHN FISHER AND HIS FAMILY

To include;


ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN CONSTABLE OR JOHN FISHER
View of the church Osmington
monochrome watercolour wash
inscribed 'Osmington' (upon the mount, lower right)
10 x 12.5 cm (3 7/8 x 4 7/8 in.)
overall mount: 12.2 x 17 cm (12 3/4 x 6 3/4 in.)

together with;

Charles Golding Constable (1821–1878)
Woolwich
signed and titled within the margin (lower left/centre)
etching
13.5 x 16 cm (5 5/8 x 6 5/8 in.) (plate)
18 x 23 cm (7 1/4 in x 9 1/4 in.) (sheet)

together with;

Charles Golding Constable (1821–1878)
View of a mill
signed and dated 'C. Constable, 1855' (lower left)
etching
possibly a unique impression
9 x 11 cm (3 1/2 x 4 3/8 in.) (plate)
15 x 20.2 cm (5 7/8 x 8 in.) (sheet)

together with;

An unpublished letter from William Fisher to John Constable at his brother's Tottenham Court Road residence, dated February 19th 1813
18.5 x 22.7 cm. (7 1/4 x 8 7/8 in.)

Transcription:

Dear Constable,
I was not successful in my application to our Ladies as they are engaged on the Evening
of Music. But to make amends I have pressed the service of Dr Calcott upon many other
of my friends & have universally received the same answer -that they will certainly
attend, but that their presence will be quite superfluous as there is no doubt that the
house will overflow. “We are indebted to him”, said one “for a body of national music”
I was so pressed for time I could not see you today & tomorrow I [?reach] Salisbury. But
formal farewells are but mawkish things. So it is better as it is.
My sister Fanny is beginning colouring, can you favour her with a copy -either
Landschape [sic] or figures.
My Mother desires you will come to make your own apologies for your tergiversation; &
refusal of the Elton visitation,
[…..] ? amore
Yours very truly
John Fisher

together with;

The diary of Emma Fisher and the diary of Bishop John Fisherof Salisbury (1748-1825), grandson of Clergyman John Fisher

inclduing a large collection of hand illustrated notes and drawings

together with;

A handwritten collection of Fisher family trees and letters inclduing one from William Fisher dated January 28^th, 1842
A note from Anne Lyles:

The letter is written by William Fisher, ie the Rev William Fisher, son of Philip Fisher ( the latter being a younger brother of Bishop John Fisher) . Thus William Fisher was Bishop Fisher’s nephew.

William Fisher is writing to his sister-in-law, Mary Fisher (whose husband, Archdeacon John Fisher - the Rev William Fisher’s brother - had died in 1832) to say that his own father, Philip Fisher, had recently died. He (ie the Rev William Fisher) is now writing to her to communicate ‘the benefit to which you are entitled under his will’.

Provenance
Property from a decendent of the Fisher family.

We are grateful to Anne Lyles for her assistance in researching and cataloguing this lot.