Page:Hutton, William Holden - Hampton Court (1897).djvu/245

Rh in the inventory of Cromwell's goods as hanging in the Paradise-room. The points chiefly noticeable in all are the merits of the designs and the formality of the execution. The stiffness of the figures is characteristic of Flemish work, and there is an ignoring of perspective, which may be intentional, and is not always unpleasing.

In the Horn-room, which opens from the "Great Watching-chamber," a room originally used for the serving of dishes to the high table in the hall, with which it also communicates, are other pieces of tapestry—the story of Æneas, and an allegorical piece of which it is difficult to identify the subject.

In the great hall itself are copies of the Triumph of Fate, and two subjects from the history of Hercules—the taming of the steeds of Diomed, and his death. The tapestries under the gallery are valuable as illustrations of contemporary costume, and in some cases the faces are beautifully worked, reminding one of the best work on fifteenth century vestments that have come down to us. In date they stand between those of the Great Watching-chamber and the story of Abraham in the hall. Of the greatest treasure of all, the story of Abraham, only eight of the ten original designs now remain at Hampton Court. These have been hung in the great hall for the last half-century. They are believed to have been designed by Bernhard van Orlay court-painter to the