Virgil's House, Brindisi, Antique Steel Engraving after C. Werner, circa 1877

A sunlit street scene at Brindisi, centered on the weathered stone building known as Virgil's House. The facade rises in large, cracked blocks, with a pair of round arches and carved ornament on the upper story, a tall column against the corner at right and a wooden external stair climbing to a doorway, where a figure leans out. Doves perch on the broken parapet and flutter in the courtyard below.

Life goes on around the ruin: a woman spins on the steps with a child beside her, two women draw water at a stone basin beneath an arch, and a boy sits on the steps looking out to the harbor. At far left the sea opens out to a fortified building with a flag and a few distant sails.

Brindisi, the old port at the heel of Italy, is where the poet Virgil died in 19 BC, and a local tradition attached his name to this ancient building. The plate is lettered "Virgil's House, Brindisi." and credits the painter C. Werner (Carl Werner, the German watercolorist celebrated for his Mediterranean subjects), whose signature also appears in the image at lower left, and the engraver C. Bertrand. No publisher's imprint is lettered on this sheet.

This is a steel engraving with a wide tonal range, from the brilliant, almost white light on the courtyard to the deep shadow inside the arch. Every block of the old masonry is individually modeled, and the figures are drawn with real charm.

The upright format makes it a natural choice for a narrow wall beside a doorway or bookcase, framed simply in black or gilt.

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