About this sheet
One of the most elaborate facades in the series appears in this antique print of Harlaxton Manor, Lincolnshire, a color woodblock country house view from Morris's Picturesque Views of Seats, printed by Benjamin Fawcett circa 1870. The house is taken head-on along its formal approach, a straight gravel drive running directly to the entrance, flanked at its outer end by a pair of domed lodges or gate pavilions.
A tall central tower and lantern rise well above the roofline, surrounded by a crowd of pinnacles, strapwork gables and chimneys in a dense Jacobean revival idiom. The architecture is printed in a warm buff stone with gray shadow work picking out the mouldings, and broad lawns extend evenly on either side of the drive, largely bare of incident so that the building carries the whole sheet. The sky is left plain, a pale blue with only the faintest suggestion of cloud, a deliberate contrast to the ornamental complexity of the roofline, where every pinnacle and finial had to be carried correctly through each color block.
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 Harlaxton Manor, Lincolnshire, 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 wide margins, with the title Harlaxton Manor lettered 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 faint 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. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
