Corsham Court, Wiltshire, Antique Morris Woodblock Print, circa 1870

Honey-colored stone and slender spires mark this antique print of Corsham Court, Wiltshire, a color woodblock country house view from Morris's Picturesque Views of Seats, printed by Benjamin Fawcett circa 1870. It shows the north front, its center marked by an elaborate gabled bay crowded with pinnacles and flanked by a pair of octagonal turrets capped with ogee spires.

A lower wing recedes into the distance at the right, and the branches of a large tree intrude across the upper left corner, framing rather than obscuring the architecture. The stonework is one of the more finely worked passages in the series, the pinnacles, string courses and window tracery all kept legible under a single warm gray-buff tint rather than buried beneath heavier color. The lawn in front is left plain and the sky is a simple pale blue, a restrained palette of stone tones and greens that makes the ornamented roofline the clear focus.

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 Corsham Court, Wiltshire, is suitable for framing and popular with admirers of the house, with lovers of Wiltshire, and with collectors of English country house views. The sheet has its original wide margins, with the title Corsham Court lettered in small capitals beneath 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 margins, including one near the lower right corner, 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.