Turnbury Castle, Ayrshire, Antique Engraving after Birket Foster, circa 1876

Heavy seas break against a rocky shore in this stormy steel engraving, and above the white water the ruined walls of a castle stand on a low headland. The surf churns across the whole lower half of the picture, drawn in sweeping, foam-flecked lines, while gulls ride the wind and sunlight breaks through the dark clouds in long shafts at the right. A distant island rises on the horizon, and in the lower right a small dark shape tossed among the waves adds to the sense of danger.

The plate is lettered "Turnbury Castle.", an older spelling of Turnberry, the ruined castle on the coast of Ayrshire in southwest Scotland, long associated with Robert the Bruce. The drawing is credited in full to Birket Foster, whose BF monogram also appears in the lower left of the image, and the engraving to S. Bradshaw. Beneath the title is the imprint of Cassell, Petter & Galpin of London.

This is a steel engraving printed in black ink on wove paper, uncolored. Foster is best known for calm country scenes, which makes this violent seascape all the more striking. Bradshaw's handling of the breaking waves, with dense dark troughs and bright, broken crests, gives the plate tremendous energy.

It makes a bold statement on its own in a study or entrance hall, and would also hold its place in a sequence of Scottish or coastal views, framed in black with a crisp white mat.

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