The Castle, from the Eton play fields opposite Windsor Castle, based on a sketch made by Sandhurst Military Academy drawing-master W. Alfred Delamotte for the tenth instalment of W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance for the May 1843 number in Ainsworth's Magazine. Book the Third, "The History of the Castle," Chapter V, "The Last Great Epoch in the History of the Castle," mid-p. 166: 6.6 cm high by 9.5 cm wide, vignetted. [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 Illustrated
. . . — proceed to the south front, of which the Victoria Tower, with its machicolated battlements and oriel window, forms so superb a feature at the eastern corner, the magnificent gateway receiving its name from George the Fourth, flanked by the York and Lancaster Towers, and opening in a continued line from the Long Walk; look at Saint George's Gate, Edward the Third's renovated tower, and the octagon tower beyond it; look at all these, and if they fail to excite a due appreciation of the genius that conceived them, gaze at the triumph of the whole, and which lords over all the rest — the Round Tower — gazeat it, and not here alone, but from the heights of the great park, from the vistas of the home park, from the bowers of Eton, the meadsof Clewer and Datchet, from the Brocas, the gardens of the naval knights — from a hundred points; view it at sunrise when the royal standard is hoisted, or at sunset when it is lowered, near or ata distance, and it will be admitted to be the work of a prodigiousarchitect! [Chapter V, "The Last Great Epoch in the History of the Castle," pp. 165-166]
Commentary
The width of Windsor Castle is evident here, with the Round Tower alligned centre, St. George's Chapel to the right, and, at the extreme right, the Curfew Tower.
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 9 February 2018