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King Henry the Eighth attending Mass in St. George's Chapel
W. A. Delamotte
1842
Wood-engraving
15.7 cm at the highest point by 9.6 cm wide, vignetted at the bottom
Fourteenth Delamotte illustration for W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance, first published in the August 1842 number of Ainsworth's Magazine; Chapter IV; volume, p. 33.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
He then arose, and quitting the chapter-house, proceeded with the knights-companions to the choir— the roof and walls of the sacredstructure resounding with the solemn notes of the organ as they traversed the aisle. The first to enter the choir were the alms-knights, who passed through the door in a body, and making low obeisances toward the altar and the royal stall, divided into two lines. They were succeeded by the prebends of the College, who, making similar obeisances, stationed themselves in front of the benches before the stalls of the knights-companions. Next followed the pursuivants, heralds, and provincial kings-of-arms, making like reverences, and ranging themselves with the alms-knights. Then came the knights-companions, who performed double reverences like the others, and took their stations under their stalls; then came the black-rod, Garter, and register, who having gone through the same ceremony as the others, proceeded to their form, which was placed on the south side of the choir before the sovereign's stall; then came the chancellor and prelate, whose form was likewise placed before the royal stall, but nearer to it than that allotted to the other officers; and, lastly, Henry himself, with the sword borne before him by the Duke of Richmond, who as he approached the steps of his stall bowed reverently towards the altar, and made another obeisance before seating himself.
Meanwhile the Duke of Richmond posted himself in front of the royalstall, the Earl of Oxford, as lord chamberlain, taking his station on the king's right, and the Earl of Surrey, as vice-chamberlain, on theleft. As these arrangements were made, the two cardinals arrived, andproceeded to the altar.
Mass was then said, and nothing could be more striking than theappearance of the chapel during its performance. The glorious choir with its groined and pendent roof, its walls adorned with the richest stuffs,its exquisitely carved stalls, above which hung the banners of the knights-companions, together with their helmets, crests, and swords, its sumptuously — decorated altar, glittering with costly vessels, its pulpit hung with crimson damask interwoven with gold, the magnificent and varied dresses of the assemblage— all these constituted a picture ofsurpassing splendour.
Vespers over, the king and his train departed with the same ceremoniesand in the same order as had been observed on their entrance to thechoir. [Chapter IV. "How King Henry the Eighth held a Chapter of the Garter; How he attended Vespers and Matins in Saint George's Chapel;And how he feasted with the Knights; Companions in Saint George's Hall," pp.37-38]
The figures are rather wooden, but Delamotte's treatment of the groined gothic ceiling and banners of the Knights of the Garter is highly effective.
Above: Tony Johannot's painterly realisation of the banquet scene, The Banquet in Saint George's Hall [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Ainsworth, William Harrison. Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance. Illustrated by George Cruikshank and Tony Johannot. With designs on wood by W. Alfred Delamotte. London: Routledge, 1880. Based on the Henry Colburn edition of 1844.
Patten, Robert L. Chapter 30, "The 'Hoc' Goes Down." George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art, vol. 2: 1835-1878. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers U. P., 1991; London: The Lutterworth Press, 1996. Pp. 153-186.
Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.
Last modified 8 December 2017