ould have been
chosen in Rouen than this Maison Bourgtheroulde, and I have therefore
dilated on it at some length, to emphasise the spirit of life and
colour that is the main subject of this chapter. But a far more
important reason for these details is the fact that the Field of the
Cloth of Gold carved on this gallery, is of the greatest value and
interest to all Englishmen as one of the few representations of that
famous pageant which exist either in England or out of it.

The only place near London where it can be conveniently studied is in
the gallery of Hampton Court Palace. In that collection you may see,
in No. 337, Henry's embarkation from Dover on the 31st of May in the
_Great Harry_ or _Henri Grace de Dieu_, as she had been "hallowed" in
1514. And in No. 342 is a large painting 5-1/2 feet high by 13 feet, 3
inches long, of this meeting of the kings between Guinea and Ardres,
which confirms in a very remarkable way many of the details in the
Maison Bourgtheroulde. It is not by Holbein, though he is known to
have done similar work that has not survived, but may have been
painted either by John Browne or Vincent Volpe or John Cruste, all of
whose names are mentioned in connection with court pageants of the
reign. A small outline of this picture is very possibly connected
with our earliest notions of English history, for it is prefixed to
Mr Murray's edition of Mrs Markham's "England." Mr Ernest Law's
catalogue of the Hampton Court pictures gives further details in
connection with it, and for a longer description refers his readers to
the third volume of the State papers of Henry VIII., and to
"Archaeologia," iii. 185-230.[68]

[Footnote 68: In November 1774 the Society of Antiquaries published a
large engraving of this picture (which is still procurable) by James
Basine, after a drawing by E. Edwards from the original then in the
Royal Apartments of Windsor Castle. In this you may see the Fountains
of Bacchus and Cupid running wine, in front of the English Pavilion,
which is full of windows. The Salamander of Francis floats in the air
above. In 1781 the same engraver copied the companion picture of the
embarkation of Henry VIII. from Dover in the "Great Harry," after a
drawing by S.H. Grimm.]

I cannot leave this subject without expressing the earnest hope not
only that our own National Portrait Gallery may soon be able to let
the public see some good reproduction of a scene that is of the
greatest historical