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HAMPTON 



hall, the roof is the most notable feature, with its 

 coffered vault and three rows of gilded pendants, 

 round each of which are grouped four figures of 

 angels playing pipes, singing from scrolls, or hold- 

 ing sceptres. The west door of the chapel, open- 

 ing to the cloister, has on either side a large stone 

 panel with the arms and initials of Henry VIII 

 and Jane Seymour, supported by angels, though it 

 seems that Anne Boleyn's arms were formerly here, 

 and from the nature of the supporters Mr. 1 aw 

 suggests that the panels originally held the 

 cardinal's arms. The entry of the carving of a 

 crown for each of these panels in Henry VIII's 

 time bears out this suggestion; but otherwise this 

 work, though Italian in feeling, is notably inferior, 

 and hardly what one would expect from Wolsey's 

 workmen. 



To the north of the chapel is the Chapel Court, 

 bounded on the north by the range of buildings 

 which were assigned to Prince Edward from 1537 

 onwards ; they have suffered in recent years by 

 fire, and contain nothing of their old fittings. 

 Very little indeed remains in the palace of the 

 magnificent decoration which was famous through- 

 out Europe in the i6th century. In the west 

 range of the Clock Court are some good linen- 

 panelled rooms, and in the south range the rooms, 

 traditionally Wolsey's private lodging, have some 

 ceilings of the time ; but the best idea of the 

 splendour of Wolsey's ornament is to be gained 

 from a room in the east range of the court, reached 

 from the Mantegna Gallery on the first floor of the 

 Fountain Court. This has a very rich geometrical 

 ceiling, the panels of which have only recently 

 been discovered to be of lead, with the 'gold and 

 byse ' colouring characteristic of its date, a narrow 

 frieze with the cardinal's ' word ' and badges, 

 and below it some oil paintings on panel, of the 

 Last Supper, the Scourging, the Bearing of the 

 Cross, and the Resurrection, perhaps the work of 

 Luca Penni or Toto del Nunziato. Below the 

 paintings the walls were doubtless covered with 

 hangings. 



The south-east quarter of the palace is occupied 

 by the Fountain Court, the work of Sir Christopher 

 Wren. His buildings are in three stories, the 

 ground floor towards the court being occupied by 

 a cloister, and towards the gardens by ranges of 

 rooms, now private apartments. Queen Mary 

 seems to have used the walks of the cloister and 

 part of the south range as a greenhouse and 

 orangery, and Defoe mentions in his Tour 

 Through Great Britain that ' the lower part of 

 the house was all one as a greenhouse for some 

 time.' The principal apartments are on the first 

 or chamber floor, with a mezzanine or half-story 

 over, the area of which is thrown into the largest 

 rooms to increase their height. The third or attic 

 floor has always been divided into suites of rooms, 

 which still retain their official name of Galleries. 

 The principal elevation is that facing east, 300 ft. 

 long and 60 ft. high, divided into twenty-three 

 bays, the seven middle bays forming a symmetrical 

 composition, more elaborately treated than the rest 

 and faced with Portland stone. The three in the 

 middle have on the ground floor square-headed 



gateways, opening to a vestibule leading to the 

 cloisters of the Fountain Court, the piers between 

 the gateways being of Portland stone with drafted 

 joints, and serving as plinths for half-columns of 

 the Corinthian order, which with their cornice 

 frieze and architrave occupy the full height of the 

 first floor, and carry a pediment whose apex 

 reaches nearly to the top of the attic story. In 

 each bay between the columns are tall stone-framed 

 sash windows surmounted by cornices, and a band 

 of carved ornament equal in depth to the capitals 

 of the columns. The pediment incloses a group 

 of sculpture by Caius Gabriel Cibber, ' The 

 Triumph of Hercules over Envy,' carved between 

 1694 and 1696, for which the sculptor was paid 

 400. The two bays on each side of the middle 

 three have square-headed windows on the ground 

 story, and flat pilasters instead of half-round 

 columns above. The cornice and band of carving 

 beneath it is continued across them, and the attic 

 stage above is divided by pilasters enriched with 

 carving, carrying up the lines of the pilasters on 

 the first floor. The attic windows are square, 

 fitted with sashes like the others, the heavy sash- 

 bars of which make a most attractive feature, and 

 the whole is finished with a stone balustrade, 

 divided into bays like the rest by panelled pilasters. 

 On either side of the seven stone-faced bays are 

 eight more simply treated, without pilasters and 

 with red-brick walling. The ground-floor windows 

 have low arched heads with prettily carved key- 

 stones, and the first-floor windows are like those in 

 the middle bays, but over them runs a line of 

 circular windows, lighting the half-story, and 

 having carved keystones of very good style. Im- 

 mediately above is a cornice ranging with that in 

 the middle bays, but of much less depth and pro- 

 jection, and the treatment of the attic over has the 

 same modifications of the design of the middle bays 

 as that of the first floor. 



The south elevation is of twenty-five bays, four 

 at either end projecting 8 ft. in front of the rest, 

 and has a stone-faced central composition of three 

 bays with Corinthian columns on the first floor 

 carrying a cornice inscribed ' Gulielmus et Maria 

 RR.F.' The treatment is simpler than that of the 

 east front, but, on the other hand, the seven bays 

 on either side are not mere repetitions of each 

 other, as on the east, but their middle bays have 

 pediments over the first-floor windows surmounted 

 by the royal arms of William and Mary supported 

 by cupids, and the bays on either side have swags 

 of fruit instead of the round half-story windows. 

 The arms seem to be Gabriel Gibber's work, but 

 much of the purely architectural decoration both 

 here and on the east front was probably done 

 by Grinling Gibbons, or under his supervision. 

 Various payments to him between 1691 and 1696 

 show that a great deal of the ornament on Wren's 

 building must be his work. 



The least satisfactory part of the design is the 

 sky line, now unbroken except by rows of singu- 

 larly unattractive chimneys, but originally a little 

 relief was given by four statues standing on the 

 middle bays of the balustrades on each face ; they 

 were removed in the 1 8th century. 



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