Print of the Month - February 2015
Published by George Baxter in 1850, this print was used as an illustration in Suttaby’s Le Souvenir Pocket Book for 1851.
The print was described in the pocket book as follows:
Warwick Castle, the splendid seat of the Earl of Brooke and Warwick, is situated on a rock, 40 feet above the level of the Avon, and is one of the most complete and magnificent examples of the Baronial architecture of the middle ages.
The principal entrance is by an embattled gateway, from which point a road has been constructed out of the solid rock; and on its sides are planted a profusion of ivy and shrubs of various kinds.
This approach is so contrived as to conceal the castle from view, till it reaches a point where, at a sudden turn, the lofty towers burst upon the eye in all their magnificence.
To the left appears what is called Caesar’s Tower, 147 feet in height.
It is considered as the most ancient part of the building, and is supposed to have been erected soon after the Norman Conquest.
On the right is Guy’s Tower, 128 feet high; but as it stands on an elevated part of the rock it commands the preceding.
Its walls are ten feet thick, and it was built in 1394 by Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.
These towers are connected by a massive embattled wall, in the centre of which is a spacious arched gateway leading into the inner court.
In advance of this front is a moat, now dry and planted with trees and shrubs.
Over the entrance is a watch tower.”
Baxter Process Print, size 4 x 2 3/8 inches. This print is unsigned.
It was originally sold for 6d.
As well as being published in the pocket-book it was also published on Stamped and Red Seal mounts.
Produced from a steel plate and eleven colour blocks.
The printing plate and blocks were bought in 1860 by Joseph Mansell, who printed from them.
These prints are difficult to distinguish from those done by Baxter himself.