Autograph Signatures on fragment of petition to W[illiam]. J[ohn]. Roper, Secretary to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

All four are notable British artists of the first half of the nineteenth-century: A. E. Chalon (1780-1860), J. J. Chalon (1778-1854), Geddes (1783-1844), Robertson (1777-1845). Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by five and a half. Grubby and discoloured with age, and with some wear and creasing to edges. Signatures read ' R: Jackson [perhaps John Richardson Jackson, mezzotint engraver, 1819-77] | Alfd. Edwd Chalon | Jno. Jas. Chalon | Andw. Geddes | A. Robertson'. The reverse is tantalizing: '<...> Institution; his claims are conseq <...> | <...> therefore merely inform you th<...> | <...> quite paralized in his limbs a<...> | <...> the use of speech. The medical ge <...> | <...> time attended him gratuitously, <...> | <...> hopes of his recovery, and thinks <...> | <...> should be left alone; Yet he <...> | <...> with him and is unable to <...> | <...> procure any of those little <...> | <...> suffering which his melancho <...> | requires; indeed he has neve <...> | calling so earnestly for assis <...> | <...> he, I fear want assistance long <...>'.