Stourton, Wiltshire, Antique Morris Woodblock Print, circa 1870

A sunset sky glows behind this antique print of Stourton, Wiltshire, a color woodblock country house view from Morris's Picturesque Views of Seats, printed by Benjamin Fawcett circa 1870. The spreading branches of an oak frame the upper right of the sheet, their leaves worked in warm green and brown against soft pink and orange cloud that suggests the last light of the day.

Beneath this natural frame the house presents an asymmetrical Gothic composition, a tall traceried window marking what is evidently the great hall, set beside towers and gabled bays of varying height. The stone is printed in a pale, slightly warm gray that picks up the color of the sky, and the open lawn in the foreground is kept simple, a single graded green. The sky moves in close graded steps from warm orange near the horizon through pink to cooler gray higher up, and the overall effect leans toward the picturesque, built as much around the framing tree and the colored sky as around the architecture.

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 Stourton, Wiltshire, 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 has its original margins, with the title Stourton set 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 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.