Richard Cosway R.A. 1742-1821

Francis Wellesley, his sale in these Rooms, 28th June-2nd July 1920, lot 111;
Owen D. and Josephine Edmonds Young, New York, 1920;
Leverhulme Sale, Anderson, New York, 2nd-4th March, 1926, lot 89;
Laura Rockefeller and James R.Case III, 1956

This rare early drawing by Cosway depicts Catherine Maria Norris, nee Fischer, well known as Kitty Fisher (d.1767).  She is drawn holding a dove in her lap, while another is perched on a branch of one of the trees behind her.  Two others are drinking from the basin of an elaborate fountain to the right.  In the immediate background to the left is a large classic urn on a pedestal.  A statue is seen through the foliage to the right and in the distance the facade of a mansion can be seen. 

Kitty Fisher was the daughter of a German stay-maker called Fischer and in later life became a celebrated courtesan.  She married John Norris, MP for Rye on 9th November 1766.  She was painted on numerous occasions by Sir Joshua Reynolds and was thought to be intimately aquainted with him.  One of his portraits, painted or at least begun in 1762 and now in a private collection, shows her adopting a similar pose to that in the present work (see fig.1).  She is holding a dove on her lap and another perches on a branch behind her.  It would appear likely that Cosway referred to Reynolds' celebrated painting when designing this composition.

Kitty Fisher died in March 1767, aged about twenty six.  It was the year of this drawing which could mean that it was Cosway's memorial to her.  Before her marriage to Norris a year earlier, she was a celebrated figure in London.  She was a daring horsewoman and known for her beauty and wit, although a comic satire written in 1759 (when she was about seventeen), by `Rigdum Funnidos', says that she was a milliner and had neither sense nor wit but only impudence.  Further contemporary writing about her included `Miss K. F-'s Miscellany' , `Elegy to K. F-h-r', `An odd letter on a most interesting subject to Miss K. F-h-r', and perhaps the best known reference in verse, `Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it'.  Kitty Fisher died at Bath and at her own request was put in her coffin wearing her best dress, and this brought about another satire, entitled, `An Elegy on Kitty Fisher Lying in state at Bath'.

The present drawing has within it a considerable amount of symbolism, a dead tree alongside a flowering tree, perhaps the Tree of Death beside the Tree of Life.  The two pairs of doves could represent Love, Thanks or Purity, and the honeysuckle and the roses are a sign of fertility.

A miniature of Kitty Fisher with a dove is recorded and although traditionally attributed to Ozias Humphrey it may be by Cosway and either after or perhaps the original design for his 1773 print of Miss Woolls.

We are grateful to Stephen Lloyd for his assistance in cataloguing this drawing