Old Oak and Beech-tree in Windsor Forest in Windsor Castle, based on a sketch made by Sandhurst Military Academy drawing-master W. Alfred Delamotte for the fourth instalment of W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance for the November 1842 instalment in Ainsworth's Magazine. "Book the First: Anne Boleyn," Chapter VIII, "Of Tristram Lyndwood, the old Forester, and his Grand-daughter Mabel; Of the Peril in which the Lady Anne Boleyn was placed during the chase; And by whom she was rescued," midddle of p. 67: 6.9 cm high by 9.7 cm wide, roughly framed. One assumes that Delamotte's extensive series of natural and architectural settings required considerable coordination and collaboration between himself and the author. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Passage Referenced in the Wood-engraving
Meanwhile, Henry and his fair companion rode on without relaxing their pace, until they reached the summit of a knoll, crowned by an old oakand beech-tree, and commanding a superb view of the castle, where they drew in the rein.
From this eminence they could witness the progress of the chase, as it continued in the valley beyond. An ardent lover of hunting, the kingwatched it with the deepest interest, rose in his saddle, and uttering various exclamations, showed, from his impatience, that he was only restrained by the stronger passion of love from joining it.
Ere long, stag, hounds, and huntsmen were lost amid a thicket, andnothing could be distinguished but a distant baying and shouts. At last even these sounds died away.[Chapter VIII, "Of Tristram Lyndwood, the old Forester, and his Grand-daughter Mabel; Of the Peril in which the Lady Anne Boleyn was placed during the chase; And by whom she was rescued," p. 67]
Commentary
Although Delamotte consistently eschews the violent action and cavalcade of Tudor characters one finds in the Johannot and Cruikshank illustrations such as The Royal Chase in Windsor Forrest in Chapter 8, he ably distinguishes between the two species of deciduous trees that the French illustrator generalised. Moreover, whereas the steel-engraving vaguely shows some sort of large building on the horizon, left, Delamotte uses a sharply realised image of the castle with its large central keep to foil the natural features on the scene, the roe-deer and the ancient trees.
Johannot's Complementary Steel-engraving for Chapter VII
Above: Tony Johannot's robust realisation of the scene about to unfold in Delamotte's wood-engraving two pages previous, The Royal Chase in Windsor Forest [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
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.
Vann, J. Don. "Windsor Castle in Ainsworth's Magazine, June 1842-June 1843." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. P. 23.
Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.
Last modified 30 November 2017