Ardtully, County Kerry, Antique Morris Woodblock Print, circa 1870

Mountain scenery dominates this antique print of Ardtully, County Kerry, an Irish country house view printed in color by Benjamin Fawcett for Morris's Picturesque Views of Seats, circa 1870. A range of Kerry hills, one distant peak touched with what reads as snow, rises behind the house and fills most of the upper half of the sheet.

The house itself, an Italianate villa with a slim tower carrying a flagstaff, sits low in the composition, partly screened by ornamental conifers planted close around it. In the foreground, riders in blue habits are shown on horseback on a woodland ride with a dog running alongside, and a small bridge is just visible through the trees at the left. The view moves from the closely worked riders and trees back through the parkland to the hills, the furthest ranges reduced to a single pale gray-blue tint while the nearer wooded slopes carry two or three greens, giving a strong sense of depth and atmosphere.

The Reverend Francis Orpen Morris (1810 to 1893), best known for his History of British Birds, edited A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, published in London by William Mackenzie, with drawings largely by Alexander Francis Lydon, in an issue of circa 1870. Benjamin Fawcett (1808 to 1893) of Driffield, one of the great Victorian color woodblock printers, printed the plates from separate blocks in register, so the color here is printed, not hand colored.

As an original Victorian plate removed from the book, this antique print of Ardtully, County Kerry, is suitable for framing and popular with admirers of the house, with lovers of County Kerry, and with collectors of country house views of Great Britain and Ireland. The sheet has full margins, with the title Ardtully lettered in small capitals below the image.

This antique print is in good condition for its age. The paper shows light toning consistent with age, together with a few small spots in the upper margin, a faint mark in the lower right margin and a line of binding holes along the lower edge, where the plate was once bound into the book. Please review the images for further condition details.

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