Danbury Palace, Essex, Antique Morris Woodblock Print, circa 1870

Tower, gable and turret combine under a mantle of ivy in this antique print of Danbury Palace, Essex, a color woodblock country house view from Morris's Picturesque Views of Seats, printed by Benjamin Fawcett circa 1870. A gravel drive curves in from the right across an open lawn to the entrance front.

The front is built up of several distinct elements, a castellated tower at the left, a steep Gothic gable with traceried windows at the center and a domed turret toward the right, bound together by a heavy growth of ivy over much of the ground floor. The mixed massing, part battlemented and part ecclesiastical, is rendered in a warm stone-yellow, with the ivy in two or three darker, more saturated greens than the lawn so that it reads clearly against the masonry. A large tree stands at the right edge, and the sky is a pale wash lightly streaked with cloud, leaving the architectural silhouette to carry the sheet.

This is a color woodblock print, or color wood engraving, printed from a series of separate blocks in register by Benjamin Fawcett (1808 to 1893) of Driffield, Yorkshire, one of the finest color woodblock printers of the Victorian period and printer of Morris's bird books. The series, A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, was edited by the Reverend Francis Orpen Morris (1810 to 1893) and published in London by William Mackenzie; this plate is from an issue of circa 1870.

This antique print of Danbury Palace, Essex, circa 1870, is an original Victorian plate removed from the book, suitable for framing, and a natural choice for admirers of the house and collectors of English country house views. The sheet retains its full margins, with the title Danbury Palace in small capitals set below the printed 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, a faint tide line in the upper left 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.