An Original

Woodcut Engraving

of

"Blenheim Palace"

From

Francis Orpen Morris's Part-Work

This is a genuine antique, being over 130 years old - NOT a modern reproduction.

About the subject....

Blenheim Palace is a large and monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the only non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title "palace". The Palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between 1705 and circa 1722.

Its construction was originally intended to be a gift to John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough from a grateful nation in return for military triumph against the French and Bavarians. However, it soon became the subject of political infighting, which led to Marlborough's exile, the fall from power of his Duchess, and irreparable damage to the reputation of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh. Designed in the rare, and short-lived, English baroque style, architectural appreciation of the palace is as divided today as it was in the 1720s.  It is unique in its combined usage as a family home, mausoleum and national monument. The palace is also notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The plaque above the massive East gate gives a sanitised history of the palace's construction, reading:

"Under the auspices of a munificent sovereign this house was built for John Duke of Marlborough and his Duchess Sarah, by Sir J Vanbrugh between the years 1705 and 1722. And the Royal Manor of Woodstock, together with a grant of £240,000 towards the building of Blenheim, was given by Her Majesty Queen Anne and confirmed by act of Parliament."

The truth is that the building of the palace was a minefield of political intrigue, with scheming on a Machiavellian scale by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. Following the palace's completion, it has been the home of the Churchill family for the last 300 years, and various members of the family have in that period wrought various changes, in the interiors, park and gardens, some for the better, others for the worse.

Thus, the exterior of the palace remains in good repair, exactly as completed.

About the artist/engraver.....

Alexander Francis Lydon (1836-1917), was an English engraver of natural history. He worked for Benjamin Fawcett the printer, to whom he had been apprenticed from an early age. He collaborated on a large number of works with the Rev. Francis Orpen Morris who wrote the text. Morris wrote the text for books which were financed and printed by Fawcett, and were illustrated by Lydon. Colour printing showed an enormous improvement on the work of Thomas Bewick (1753-1828). At first wood-engraving illustrations were coloured by hand, but later a system of colouring from multiple wood blocks was used, as in this example.

The final work which Fawcett, Morris and Lydon would do together was "The County Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland". Francis Orpen Morris died on 10 February 1893 and was buried at Nunburnholme. Benjamin Fawcett had died three weeks earlier.

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