Old stone lithograph... info?

[cheese]

I *think* this is an old stone color lithograph. I believe it is Botwell Castle in Scotland. It appears to be very very old. Does anyone know about these and if this has any value? It has water and age damage, so the value probably isn't high, but I don't want to just throw the old thing in the trash and if it can be attributed to a famous lithographer, maybe it has real value? An help would be appreciated.

 

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[ANTIQUARIAN]

First off, thank you for all the pics, you were answering questions I was asking in my head as I scrolled through.
My first thought was Warwick Castle, probably because we went there on our honeymoon.

Your piece looks like a copper plate etching/print that has been hand-tinted with water colour paints after it was pressed onto the paper.
Based on the style of the frame, the label of the H.M. Page, combined with the statement of "Looking-Glass Manufacturer", I'm thinking your print dates to the early 19thc.
I also did a short search for an 18th - 19thc British artist named 'Williams', but there were likely hundreds of struggling artists at that time.

Unfortunately, your piece has extensive water and sun damage and is of little monetary value.
Having said this, I feel that all art should be saved and preserved for posterity.
if it were mine, I would have it mounted on acid-free paper, put it in an affordable antique frame and appreciate it for another 200 years.

Dave

 

[Red-Coat]

I think it probably is Bothwell (not Botwell) Castle, viewed from roughly this aspect. Certainly not Warwick, which isn’t perched on the edge of a high steep bank like that.



The framer is Harcourt Master Page of London, who was active between 1823-1867.

There was a notable Scottish landscape artist just within that period called Hugh William Williams (1773–1829) who did a number of views of Bothwell in pencil and watercolour heightened with white. Your work is loosely in his style, but definitely not by him. His usual signature was “H Williams” and in a more cursive script than the angular ‘W’ etc of your work. It’s also – how can I say this politely – not rendered with particular skill, and a long way from the quality of a talented artist.

It is, as said, likely ‘amateur’ work from an artist you may never trace and not of particular value. Enjoy it for what it is.

 

[cheese]

Thank you for the help. Yes, Bothwell is what I meant to type, must not have hit the "H" key hard enough. Saw the name Bothwell on the back of the print. Copper plate etching... thanks. I think I'l put it all back together and see if anyone has any interest in it on Ebay or send it to Dave for another 200 years

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Thank you for the help. Yes, Bothwell is what I meant to type, must not have hit the "H" key hard enough. Saw the name Bothwell on the back of the print. Copper plate etching... thanks. I think I'l put it all back together and see if anyone has any interest in it on Ebay or send it to Dave for another 200 years

Whoever the artist was they must have had an active imagination, because here's what Bothwell Castle looked like in the early 19thc and how it looks today.
Dave

PS. If you wanted to mail the print to me Cheese, I would be happy to preserve it for posterity.

"Bothwell Castle is a large medieval castle sited on a high, steep bank, above a bend in the River Clyde, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located between Bothwell and Uddingston, about 10 miles south-east of Glasgow. Construction of the castle was begun in the 13th century by the ancestors of Clan Murray, to guard a strategic crossing point of the Clyde. Bothwell played a key role in Scotland's Wars of Independence, changing hands several times. The huge cylindrical donjon was built in the 13th century, but before the rest of the castle was completed it was severely damaged in a series of sieges. Rebuilding in the early 15th century enlarged the castle, but it was abandoned by the 18th century. The present ruin is rectangular, with the remains of the donjon to the west, and the later Great Hall to the east. The courtyard is enclosed by long curtain walls, with round towers at the south-east and south-west corners. The castle was described by Scottish archaeologist William Douglas Simpson as one of the "foremost secular structures of the Middle Ages in Scotland".

 

[Red-Coat]

Whoever the artist was they must have had an active imagination, because here's what Bothwell Castle looked like in the early 19thc and how it looks today.

Yes, I suspect the artist was working from an old illustration or someone else's work and not from real life. That clumsily-executed wall has been added to provide some foreground interest. The illustration I provided, which is broadly consistent with the profile shown in the artwork, is from "Theatrum Scotiae" by John Slezer, published in 1693.