Terrace, Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, Antique Engraving after J. Chase, circa 1876

The garden terraces of Haddon Hall, seen from the lawn below. A long stone balustrade topped with ball finials runs across the scene, and a broad flight of steps climbs to the upper terrace between balustraded walls. Behind it rise dark, massed trees, including great spreading yews and cedars, while a huge ivy-clad tree trunk dominates the right foreground. The figures are dressed in the costume of an earlier age: a young man sits on the steps playing a lute, a lady in a long gown walks with a child along the lower terrace, and two little girls play on the grass, one chasing a ball.

Haddon Hall, near Bakewell in Derbyshire, is one of the best preserved medieval and Tudor manor houses in England, and its terraced gardens are famous for their romance. The lettering credits J. Chase as the painter at lower left and J. Godfrey at lower right as the engraver. The title is engraved in copperplate script with the imprint Cassell, Petter and Galpin, the London publisher, below.

The print is a steel engraving, densely and richly worked. The engraver distinguishes many different greens in black and white alone, from the feathery yews to the glossy ivy and the smooth, close-cut turf, and the pale, weathered stone of the balustrade stands out crisply against them.

Lovers of English country houses and gardens will enjoy this in a garden room, a sitting room or a stairwell, in a gilt or green-black frame.

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