* Fisher (Thomas, 1782-1836). How-green near Ampthill, Bedfordshire, watercolour and traces of pencil, depicting a traveller with a walking stick and a bundle on his back traversing a wide lane lined with trees on the right and piles of bricks beside a double fence on the left, a sign post in the distance, lightly toned, image size 23 x 33cm (9 x 13ins), titled in ink by the artist to lower margin below image, mounted, framed and glazedQty: (1)NOTESProvenance: Sir Gregory Osborne Page-Turner (1785-1848), 4th Baronet of Battlesden, Bedfordshire; Christie's, The Battlesden Sale, 1824, cat. no. 2503; Emily Page-Turner; purchased from her executors 1885; by descent from the purchaser; Sotheby's Thomas Fisher's Watercolours of Bedfordshire and British Architectural Drawings and Watercolours , 12th June 1980, lot 50. Eminent antiquary and draughtsman, Thomas Fisher exhibited a number of topographical drawings at the Royal Academy between 1804 and 1807, but his most important contribution to this field was the recording of the history of Bedfordshire, culminating in two publications: Collections Historical, Genealogical and Topographical for Bedfordshire and Monumental Remains and Antiquities in the County of Bedfordshire , published in 1812-16 and 1828 respectively. His interest in Bedfordshire stemmed partly from the fact that its history had been little recorded, and his watercolours show a love of detail arising from careful observation of the landscape and villages of the area. Sir Gregory Osborne Page-Turner was from an eminent land-owning family, and his father was the Member of Parliament for Thirsk for 21 years, but by 1823 he had apparently been incarcerated in a debtors' prison, having twice been declared a lunatic, once in 1814 and again in 1823. He died during an epileptic fit and his will was the subject of a court case to determine whether or not he was of sound mind when it was drawn up.