Letter 3636

Fletcher was the Flemish engraver Michael van der Gucht’s apprentice for seven years. Jan Kip, claims Fletcher, had the greatest influence on engraving in England at the time. Others of note were Vertue, Plat, and Garret van der Gucht. Toms and Harris worked in the style of Kip. Fletcher wanted to improve his art, so he asked his uncle ‘John James Esquire, of Greenwich’ for support. The latter recommended Fletcher to Sir James Thornhill. He studied at ‘ye Academy’, but it was difficult to pay tuition. Fletcher went on to practice his etching with Garret van der Gucht. It was ‘from these methods [that I] have produced my large print of Bathsheba’. The latter pleased his teachers. Fletcher asks for Sloane’s support, for engraving can sometimes be a tedious and difficult profession. Henry Fletcher (fl. 1715-1744) was an engraver. He worked in London (Timothy Clayton, ‘Fletcher, Henry (fl. 1715–1744)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9728, accessed 14 Aug 2014]).