Hand Colored Engraving by Callcott: View From Mount Carmel

Sunbeams break through heavy cloud over a calm bay and one very patient mountain.

This hand colored engraving is from London, England, United Kingdom, and dates to the 19th century. It is ink on paper. Thomas Allom, an architect and founding member of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects, illustrated books on China in the 1840s without ever making the trip there himself. Beyond a rocky headland on the right, a sweeping seascape opens toward a soft peak in the distance. Rays of light fan down through grey cloud onto flat water. Colour is restrained, mostly sage and pearl, with a short printed caption below. It is 9.3 inches wide and 6.3 high.

All that sky, and the artist still found room for modesty.