Inside the Scratchell's Bay Arch, Plate II of Brannon's Pair, 1828

An original Brannon engraving of Scratchell's Bay, Isle of Wight, lettered Plate II and taken from within a deep concavity in the cliffs, published at Wotton on the first of June 1828. The engraver stood inside the hollow and drew outward, so the curved rim of the rock frames the whole composition like a proscenium, and through the opening the sea and the outer chalk stacks of the Needles can be seen in the distance. The printed caption claims for that outline "the sublime Appearance of a perfect and most magnificent ARCH", and the plate is built to prove the point. Figures and a boat are placed in the opening to carry the scale. It is the most theatrical composition in the series.

This sheet is one of the plates of Vectis Scenery, the island views that George Brannon drew, engraved and published from his own house at Wotton Common in the Isle of Wight, the 1829 issue. Brannon worked without an intermediary: he made the drawing on the spot, cut the copper himself and sold the result through the island booksellers, which is unusual and is part of why the series ran for more than fifty years. The plates carry their own earlier publication dates because each view was first issued on its own. The technique is copper-plate line engraving. The views were issued uncolored, as line engravings on white paper, and this impression is uncolored.

This is the companion to the seaward view of Scratchell's Bay, which the publisher numbered Plate I, and the two were engraved to be looked at in turn: the arch from outside, then the arch from within. Each is offered separately, so a buyer can take one or build the pair. The word sublime in the caption is used in its precise Regency sense, the pleasurable terror of great natural scale, which makes this plate a textbook example of picturesque and sublime taste for anyone collecting that theme. Hung opposite its companion in matching frames, the two views work as a single idea.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the right and top edges. Scattered foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.

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