The Town of Windsor, from the Curfew Tower, based on a sketch made by Sandhurst Military Academy drawing-master W. Alfred Delamotte for the eleventh instalment of W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance, the Headpiece for Book the Sixth, Chapter II, in W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle, from Ainsworth's Magazine (June 1843), eleventh instalment, p. 288: 8.3 high by 9.3 cm wide. [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 Complemented
On the day after the solemnisation of the Grand Feast of the Order of the Garter, a masqued fete of great splendour and magnificence was held within the castle. The whole of the state apartments were thrown open to the distinguished guests, and universal gaiety prevailed. No restraint was offered to the festivity by the king, for though he was known to be present, he did not choose to declare himself. [Book the Sixth, "Jane Seymour," Chapter II, "How Anne Boleyn received proof of Henry's passion for Jane Seymour," p. 288]
Commentary
As this is an "historical romance," Ainsworth has tended to emphasize the picturesque Windsor Park and Windsor Great Forest, and the Gothic and Tudor architecture of Windsor Castle. However, rarely does he pay much attention to the town of Windsor, the subtext of Delamotte's illustrations of the Curfew and Garter Towers in the first book. In the instance of the headpiece for the Sixth Book, Delamotte creates a suitable visual complement to Ainsworth's announcements of events that have have transpired over the intervening six years, including the deaths of Cardinal Wolsey and Catherine of Arragon, and of Surrey's career throughout the European courts as a knight errant. Now Surrey returns, a melancholy lover still blocked by the King from marrying the Fair Geraldine.
This headpiece by Delamotte, The Town of Windsor, from the Curfew Tower (p. 288, Book VI, Chapter II) complements the previous chapter's headpiece, North-east View of the Castle from the Brocas (p. 283), introducing Book the Sixth, Chapter I. Both this wood-engraving and the previous one suggest what a traveller would have seen as he or she was approaching the town and the castle in 1842.
Other Views and Related Material on Windsor Castle
- Windsor Castle from the Long Walk, Victorian additions and alterations by Sir Jeffry Wyattville
- Early twentieth-century view of the castle from the river
- The Frogmore Mausoleum, adjacent to the Long Walk
- Statue of Queen Victoria at the foot of Castle Hill, Windsor
References
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 2 January 2017