Blenheim Palace 
progress, and Queen Anne watches her favourite. 
It is impossible to give in detail all the remarkable 
features of this elaborate scheme of decoration. 
We pass to the State apartments. The tapestries 
are very fine 
and repre¬ 
sent scenes 
in the career 
of t h e f a- 
mous Duke, 
who ordered 
them to be 
madeforhim 
at Brussels. 
First we see 
the siege of 
Don avert, 
then that of 
Lisle, then 
the Duke is 
before Mons 
in Hainault. 
The march 
to Bouchain 
and the siege 
of that place, 
the Earl of 
C a d o g a n 
and h i s fa¬ 
vourite mas¬ 
tiff, the siege 
of Oud e - 
narde, and 
groups after 
the school of Teniers representing the horrors of war, 
are some of the scenes portrayed in this remarkable 
series of excellent tapestries. Some of the pictures 
in the State rooms are worthy of notice, especially 
a beautiful portrait of the present Duchess by 
Carolus Duran, Louis XIV. by an unknown artist, 
and Kneller’s painting of the great Duke and General 
Armstrong, who are represented in the conduct of 
the siege of Bouchain. 
The library is one of the finest rooms in Europe; 
it is 183 feet long and occupies the entire southwest 
front. It formerly contained the famous Sunderland 
library of 80,000 books, which were sold at Christie’s 
a few years ago. The carving of the bookcases is 
said to be the work of Grinling Gibbons. Rys- 
brach’s white marble statue of Queen Anne, who 
is represented in her coronation robes, stands at 
the upper end, and on the pedestal is this inscrip¬ 
tion: “To the memory of Queen Anne, under 
whose auspices John, Duke of Marlborough con¬ 
quered, and to whose munificence he and his poster¬ 
ity with gratitude owe the possession of Blen¬ 
heim, A. D. 1726,” Amongst the pictures are 
Van Dyck’s Mary, Duchess of Richmond, George 
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham by Mytens, Van Dyck’s 
Lady Morton and Mrs. Killigrew, two famous 
beauties of the court of Charles IL, the Earl of 
Strafford by the same artist. Sargent’s portrait of 
the present 
Duke and 
Duchess with 
their family 
IS a fine and 
pleasing 
painting. 
Closterman’s 
picture of 
the great 
Duke an d 
Duchess has 
an historic 
interest. The 
poor artist 
was driven 
almost to dis¬ 
traction by 
the quarrel¬ 
some Duch¬ 
ess Sarah 
over this pic- 
t u r e. 1 h e 
Duke wrote 
to Closter- 
m an: “It 
has given me 
more trouble 
t o reconcile 
my wife and 
you than to win a battle. ” Vanloo’s portrait of the 
second Duke and Duchess, that of the first Duke and 
Duchess by Kneller, Lely’s Duchess of Portsmouth, 
Hudson’s Earl of Sunderland, are some of the most 
striking paintings that arrest attention. A fine organ 
fills the lower end of this magnificent library. There 
are many other interesting paintings and busts, and 
some valuable documents, letters and dispatches of the 
great Duke which are preserved here. Although the 
present collection of pictures possesses many ex¬ 
amples of great interest, it has only a tithe of the 
number of valuable paintings which formerly be¬ 
longed to the family and formed a collection which 
both in extent and selectness was one of the finest 
in England. No private cabinet in Europe possessed 
such treasures of art. It was particularly rich in 
works by Rubens. A large number have been sold. 
Raffaelle’s celebrated Madonna d’Ansidei, the gem 
of the collection, realised £']0,ooo, and is now in the 
National Gallery. 
One more chamber in the palace must be visited, 
the chapel, which contains a somewhat heavy and 
pompous marble monument by Rysbrach of the 
first Duke and Duchess, a monument of the seventh 
