Newcastle from the South West, Engraving after W. Harvey, Charles Knight, 1849

This hand colored steel engraving shows Newcastle upon Tyne from the south west, with the great High Level Bridge striding across the river. The plate is lettered "Newcastle, from the South-West." beneath the image, with the credits "W. Harvey, del." at left, "from a sketch by J. Jackson" at center and "T. A. Prior, sc." at right, and the imprint "London: Charles Knight, 1849."

The view looks from the high ground of Gateshead across the Tyne to the crowded town, with the crown spire of St. Nicholas and the castle keep on the skyline. The new bridge carries a train across its upper deck, while the old low bridge can be seen beneath its piers. Keels and sailing craft work the river, smoke drifts up from the houses and works below, and in the foreground a group of local people sit and stand on the hillside beside a line of washing, with a cow grazing at the right.

The High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson to carry the railway between London and Edinburgh over the gorge of the Tyne, was opened in 1849, the year of this plate, so this is a view of the bridge in its very first months. William Harvey, a pupil of Thomas Bewick and himself a native of Newcastle, was one of the most admired illustrators of the period, and Thomas Abiel Prior was a highly skilled engraver of landscape on steel. Charles Knight was a pioneer of cheap, well illustrated publishing for a wide Victorian readership.

The plate has been colored by hand, which brings warmth to the sky, the water and the figures. It is an attractive record of Newcastle in the railway age and would suit a study, office or hallway, or a collection of Tyneside and Northumberland views.

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