In the spring of 1830, there was exhibited in London a superb specimen
of painting on glass, the size almost amounting to the stupendous, being
eighteen by twenty-four feet. The term “window,” however, is hardly
applicable to this vast work, for there was no framework visible; but
the entire picture consisted of upwards of 350 pieces, of irregular
forms and sizes, fitted into metal astragals, so contrived as to fall
with the shadows, and thus to assist the appearance of an uninterrupted
and unique picture upon a sheet of glass.
The subject was “the Tournament of the Field of the Cloth of Gold,”
between Henry VIII. and Francis I., in the plain of Ardres, near Calais;
a scene of overwhelming gorgeousness, and, in the splendour of its
appointments well suited to the brilliant effects which is the peculiar
characteristic of painting in enamel. The stage represented was the last
tourney on June 25, 1520. The field is minutely described by Hall, whose
details the painter had closely followed. There were artificial trees,
with green damask leaves; and branches and boughs, and withered leaves,
of cloth-of-gold; the trunks and arms being also covered with
cloth-of-gold, and intermingled with fruits and flowers of Venice gold;
and “their beautie shewed farre.” In these trees were hung, emblazoned
upon shields, “the Kynge of Englande’s armes, within a gartier, and the
French Kynge’s within a collar of his order of Sainct Michael, with a
close croune, with a flower de lise in the toppe;” and around and above
were the shields of the noblemen of the two courts. The two queens were
seated in a magnificent pavilion, and next to the Queen of England sat
Wolsey; the judges were on stages, the heralds, in their tabards, placed
at suitable points; and around were gathered the flower of the French
and English nobility, to witness this closing glory of the last days of
chivalry.
The _action_ of the piece is thus described:--The trumpets sounded, and
the two kings and their retinues entered the field; they then put down
their vizors, and rode to the encounter valiantly; or, as Hall says,
“the ii kynges were ready, and either of them encountered one
man-of-armes; the French Kynge to the erle of Devonshire, the Kynge of
England to Mounsire Florrenges, and brake his Poldron, and him disarmed,
when ye strokes were stricken, this battail was departed, and was much
praised.”
The picture contained upwards of one hundred figures (life size) of
which forty were portraits, after Holbein and other contemporary
authorities. The armour of the two kings and the challenger was very
successfully painted; their coursers almost breathed chivalric fire; and
the costumes and heraldic devices presented a blaze of dazzling
splendour. Among the spectators, the most striking portraits were the
two queens; Wolsey, Anne Boleyn, and the Countess of Chateaubriant;
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk; and Queen Mary, Dowager of France;
with the ill-fated Duke of Buckingham, whose hasty comment upon the
extravagance of the tournament proved his downfall. The elaborate
richness of the costumes sparkling with gold and jewels, the fleecy,
floating feathers of the champions, their burnished armour and
glittering arms, the congregated glories of velvet, ermine, and
cloth-of-gold, and the heraldic emblazonry amidst the emerald freshness
of the foliage--all combined to form a scene of unparalleled
sumptuousness and effect.
The picture was executed in glass by Mr. Thomas Wilmshurst (a pupil of
the late Mr. Moss), from a sketch by Mr. R. T. Bone; the horses by Mr.
Woodward. The work cost the artist nearly 3000_l._ It was exhibited in a
first-floor at No. 15, Oxford-street, and occupied one end of a room
decorated for the occasion with paneling and carving in the taste of the
time of Henry the Eighth. It was very attractive as an exhibition, and
nearly 50,000 descriptive catalogues were sold. Sad, then, to relate, in
one unlucky night, the picture and the house were entirely burnt in an
accidental fire; not even a sketch or study was saved from destruction;
and the property was wholly uninsured. As a specimen of glass painting,
the work was very successful: the colours were very brilliant, and the
ruby red of old was all but equalled. The artistic treatment was
altogether original; the painters, in no instance, borrowing from the
contemporary picture of the same scene in the Hampton Court collection.