Bamborough Castle, Northumberland, Steel Engraving after J. Mogford, c. 1876

A dramatic steel engraving of Bamburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast, after John Mogford, from the Cassell, Petter and Galpin series of views.

The castle stands on its rock above the sea at sunset, its great square keep dark against a pale sky. In the foreground heavy surf breaks over flat rocks, and a group of men work among the timbers of a wrecked ship drawn up on the shore. Gulls wheel over the water and the low sun lights a path across the waves.

The plate is lettered "J. Mogford, Pinxt" and "S. Bradshaw, Sculpt", with the title "Bamborough Castle" in script and the imprint of Cassell, Petter and Galpin. The same uniform plates, with the same imprint, illustrated Cassell's Picturesque Europe, whose British volumes appeared from 1876; the sheet does not name the book, so the date is given as circa 1876.

Bamburgh, once the seat of the kings of Northumbria, is among the most spectacular castles of the English coast, and the wreck in the foreground recalls the dangerous Farne waters nearby. John Mogford was a marine and coastal painter, and Samuel Bradshaw one of the busiest engravers of the period.

A good choice for a coastal home or a collection of British castles, it gains from a deep mat that frames the stormy light. The engraved image measures about 16.2 by 23.1 cm (height by width), and the margins around it carry all the original lettering, which is worth keeping visible in the mat.

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