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Old Buildings, from the Hundred Steps
W. A. Delamotte
1843
Wood-engraving
8.9 cm high by 7 cm wide
Headpiece for Book the Sixth, Chapter V,"What Happened at the Jousts." in W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle, from Ainsworth's Magazine (June 1843), eleventh instalment, p. 299.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
All were astir at an early hour within the castle, and preparations were made for the approaching show. Lists were erected in the upper quadrangle, and the whole of the vast area was strewn with sand. In front of the royal lodgings was raised a gallery, the centre of which, being set apart for the queen and her dames, was covered with cloth of gold and crimson velvet, on which the royal arms were gorgeously emblazoned. The two wings were likewise richly decorated, and adorned with scutcheons and pennons, while from the battlements of the eastern side of the court were hung a couple of long flags. [Book the Sixth, "Jane Seymour," Chapter V, "What Happened at the Jousts," p. 299]
Above: The present-day tranquility of Delamotte's wood-engraving contrasts the high drama of the romance featuring Henry VIII, Queen Anne Boleyn, and Sir Henry Norris in an apparent romantic triangle: Henry Perceiving Norris Take up Anne Boleyn's Handkerchief at the Jousts (June 1843). The steel-engraving is positioned in Book VI, Chapter V, so that serves as a climax to both of Delamotte's unpopulated wood-engravings preceding it in the same instalment. [Click on the 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 3 January 2017