Rare Aquatint Carisbrook Castle T. Walmesley (1763-1806) F J Sarjent (1780-1812) Circa 1809.

Very Rare Aquatint Carisbrook Castle near the Village Isle of Wight after Thomas Walmesley (1763 - 1806) by Francis James Sarjent (c.1780 - 1812) - Circa 1890.

In the bottom left-hand corner, is printed; "Walmesley Pinx" - in the right-hand bottom corner, it reads; "Sarjent Sculp", along the bottom it reads; London Published by F. J. Sargent, ~~ Amsterdam by A. Poncia & Co. 

Francis James Sarjent (c.1780 - 1812) was based in London. He gave his address as '10, Howland Street' (off Tottenham Court Road) when he exhibited two works at the Royal Academy in 1802 and 1803. You only have to Google 'Alamy' (a photostock company) and you will see the same style paintings/prints accredited to both "Sarjent and/or Sargent".  Francis James Sarjent, is the same aquatint engraver of "The Water Mill near Dolgelly, North Wales, after J. Deeley, 1811". The painting of Hardwick House is attributed to F. J. Sarjent c.1800s, by the V&A. 

A. Poncia & Co, printed many aquatints/mezzotints/engravings, etc., during the late 18th to early 19th centuries, Google "(ALLEGORIES) Africa/America - A. Poncia & Co" and you will find that was printed in 1807.)

John Bluck (active 1791-1819), an aquatint engraver; On the 'rare old prints' website, you can see an image, and we have included a jpeg of the image as an example only; also in 1809 the engraver John Bluck, published an almost identical image (there are slight subtle differences) in the book; "Select Views of the Isle of Wight, & its Environs. Plate 8th. Carisbrook Castle near the Village. Vues Choisies de l'Isle de Wight, & les Environs. Planche 8me Chateau de Carisbrook pres du Village. The "problem" with this "edition" is that it was a page in a book, - the "titles" are split into two, one in English, the other in French, as opposed to ours which is a single sheet aquatint engraving, which was probably the inspiration as to why Bluck decided to reproduce (avoiding Sarjent'a Copyright) this same type of image for the book in question, published 1809. This likely means our Sarjent's version came before John Blucks, and they could well have been published in the same year, or a year/s sometime before Bluck.  

The landscape painter, Thomas Walmsley, who was born in Ireland in 1763, settled in London in 1790 and died in Bath in 1806, where he had retired due to ill health. At first, he exhibited mainly scenes from Wales and the Lakes, but in 1796 he showed Irish views, some of which were engraved as aquatints. One of Walmsley's aquatints dated 1868 titled; Gobray Falls, Wales, sold for over £1400 on 18/11/2004 at Christie's auction house, London.