Full-page border, hillside path through ruined castledetails

Full-page border, hillside path through ruined castle

mastodon

Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free stock image for all purposes usage credit requested
Please do not redistribute without permission, since running this site is expensive.

This engraving fills most of a page with a scene of a ruined stone archway with towers on either side leading perhaps to the courtyard of an overgrown medieval castle, perched on the side of a hill.

A shepherd guides sheep down the path through the arch towards us. In the background another shepherd with more sheep, and, further, perhaps haystacks. the blank space here contained a poem in German.

The trees and details are fabulously engraved here.

The poem, Abendlied, or, Evening song, is by Friedrich Rückert, was printed in what is now the white space at the lower right of the picture. The poem was in the Romantic style, maybe linking evening with the later years of life and a longing for heaven.

The engraving seems to be signed HARLEY, which is likely by the date and style to be John J. Harley, but i know little more about that artist. There was also a Walter Harley, a London-based engraver working about this time, but the style and subjects of John Harley’s work seem to match.

castles, ruins, arches, paths, roads, sheep, shepherds, people, trees, full-page borders

065-abendlied-ruined-castle-gateway-q75-380x500.jpg

2400 dots per inch