About this sheet
Doubled in still ornamental water, the house in this antique print of Ugbrooke, Devon, is a gray stone front castellated along its skyline, printed in color by Benjamin Fawcett for Morris's Picturesque Views of Seats, circa 1870. The country house view is taken from the far bank, so the reflection fills almost the lower third of the sheet.
Plain sash windows pierce the front below the battlements, a lower service range extends the building to the right, and what appears to be a barn or estate building shows through the trees to the left. A tall tree in autumn color, its foliage worked in golden ochre over green, rises at the right and is echoed by smaller specimens along the left margin, and birds are printed in silhouette against a sky of fine, combed bands of pale cloud. The water is laid in with darker, cooler tones than the sky, the reflection kept slightly softer than the building so that the wet surface reads distinctly from the dry.
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 Ugbrooke, Devon, 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 print is on stout wove paper, with wide plain margins and the title Ugbrooke set in small capitals at the foot.
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. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
