Antique View of Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight, Brannon Engraving, 1823

An uncolored line engraving of Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight, drawn and engraved on copper by George Brannon and published on the first of May 1823. The view looks up at the Norman gatehouse with its twin flanking towers, the curtain wall running away along the ridge, and a stone causeway climbing to the entrance. A drover moves a few cattle up the slope in the foreground, giving the walls their scale, while a ruined arch stands clear against the sky at the right. Brannon worked in fine close burin lines, modeling the chalk slope and the old masonry entirely in gray, as the views in this series were issued without color. It is the most recognized building on the island, and this is the version that Georgian and Victorian visitors carried home.

The view belongs to Vectis Scenery, George Brannon's series of original and select views of the Isle of Wight, printed and published by the engraver himself at Wotton Common on the island in 1829 and sold by the principal local booksellers. Brannon drew the subjects on the spot and cut the copper plates himself, so draughtsman and engraver are one man throughout. The volume's own advertisement leaf describes a first series of twenty-eight views with a map and letter-press, with a further twenty views issued separately as a Sequel. The technique is line engraving on copper. The views were issued uncolored, as line engravings on white paper, and this impression is uncolored.

Carisbrooke is the island's historical heart: a Norman foundation on a Saxon site, and the castle where Charles the First was held through 1647 and 1648 before his trial. Brannon engraved it more than once across his long career, and the 1823 plate is the one that fixed the composition, taken from the approach rather than from the keep. Hung as a pair with his Newport High Street view it sets the island's old county town beside its fortress, and it suits a study, a library wall or a stair shared with other English castle views. Collectors of Isle of Wight topography treat the Vectis Scenery plates as the foundation of the subject.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom and right edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.