22 Aug
Dear Henry
I have just got a letter from Wallis <1> saying he is ready to begin yr Correggio <2> directly & asking me to beg that it may be moved into a good light – & promise it shall be done in a month which I will neither exact nor answer for as it had better be done well – Nobody here can tell the present duty on pictures & frames in England – so I shall send none just yet as there is a rumour it is to be lowered – Wallis asks a high price – 40 Louis for the size of the original – less if done in small which I think you would not like so I think it hardly worth bargaining for. Being an English artist his picture will pay nothing. I wish you could transport a villa from Florence to London – Let Kit <3> know of the books I have here.
Yr Affte
W F S
Henry Talbot Esq
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Probably George Augustus Wallis (1770-1847), Scottish born painter resident in Florence who also was an art dealer and served as a representative of art dealers.
2. Antonio Allegri (Correggio) (1494–1534), Italian painter.
3. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
4. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
5. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.