John Downman, A.R.A. (Ruabon, Wales 1750-1824 Wrexham)

Portrait of Mrs. Fisher, wife of the Bishop of Salisbury, half-length, wearing an elaborately ruffled white dress trimmed with blue ribbons

Details

John Downman, A.R.A. (Ruabon, Wales 1750-1824 Wrexham)
Portrait of Mrs. Fisher, wife of the Bishop of Salisbury, half-length, wearing an elaborately ruffled white dress trimmed with blue ribbons
signed and dated 'J. Downman/1788' (lower right), and inscribed and dated 'Mrs Fisher. 1788. Original/ The Wife of my good friend Dr. Fisher/ Canon of Windsor./ I drew two of her, and the Dr. who/ became Bishop of Salisbury' (on the page of the sitters' book), and numbered '17' (upper right, overmounted)
pencil, stump and watercolour, oval; laid down on the page of the artist's sitters' book
8 3/8 x 7 in. (21.2 x 17.8 cm.)

Provenance

Stuart Samuels, M.P.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 12 November 1991, lot 38, where purchased by the present owner.

Literature

G.C. Williamson, John Downman, A.R.A., his Life and Works, London, 1907, p. lxi., no. 288.

Exhibited

London, The Fine Art Society, Drawings and Engravings by Richard Cosway, R.A. and J. Downman, R.A., May 1898, no. 7.
London, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, no. 120.

Lot Essay

Dorothea Fisher (1736-1831) was the only daughter of J.F. Scrivenor Esq., of Sibton Park, Suffolk. She married in 1787 Dr. John Fisher, who was then Canon of Windsor, and later Bishop of Salisbury. Her husband became John Constable's greatest patron, and commissioned his masterpiece Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds.

More from Old Master & British Drawings & Watercolours

View All