Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/420

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

304 PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OF Saxony, and the ladies of her suite, who also aim their bolts at the deer. In a boat appear the two Cranachs, and on its side is the dragon, the device of the painter, with the date 1545. The propriety with which the artist has here introduced his own portrait appears from the recital of a contemporary chronicler, who states that when the Elector set forth to meet the Emperor, his only companion in the carriage was Lucas Cranach, whom he was wont to call "his faithful friend." This highly curious painting abounds in details admirably illustrative of the manners of the times, the costume and equipment for the chace : the rich dresses, ornaments, and all the accessories are finished with the most delicate pencil. It was purchased from the collection of the Comte de Survilliers (Joseph Buonaparte) and brought to this country from his mansion in America. The companion picture exists in the Royal Gallery at Madrid ; this also was formerly in the same collection, and still bears the number of the catalogue, paiuted on one corner of the canvas. Mr. Farrer contributed also a curious collection of signet-rings, chiefly from Spain, and a series of choice illuminations, forty in number, from the Crevenna Collection. By Mr. Robert SEoawiCK, of Skipton. — Four engraved brass plates, portions of memorials of the Clifford family, discovered about twenty-five years since, in pulling down the walls of an old house at Thorlby, near Skipton, Yorkshire. They are now in the possession of Mr. Tufton, at Skipton Castle. Mr. Sedgwick stated that at the foot of the tomb of Henry, Earl of Cumberland, in Skipton Church, bearing the inscription given by Dr. Whitaker (Hist, of Craven, p. 315, ed. 1806), a slab was placed by the Lady Anne Pembroke, to the memory of Henry, second Earl of Cumberland, very similar to that at the foot of the tomb of her father George, third Earl of Cumberland. This slab fell down in 1844, and another stone was disclosed to view, to which certain brass plates had been originally affixed ; the indents or matrices being still apparent, but the plates had been removed. Portions of the plates were amongst the frag- ments found at Thorlby ; they consist of a representation of the Trinity, which had been inserted at the top of the slab, and part of the first figure in the group of sons, which was placed beneath. It is a figure in armour, kneeling; on his tabard are the arms of Clifford, chequy, or and az., a fess gu. charged with an annulet. Under the figure of the Trinity there had been two scrolls, each over a group, that on one side appeared by the indents to have consisted of three male figures, whilst the other pourtrayed four females. It is, however, difficult to ascertain the number with precision. Beneath these groups of kneeling figures there had been affixed a plate, doubtless bearing an inscription, and at each corner of the slab a circular ornament had been affixed ; these may have been heraldic, but more probably were the Evangelistic symbols. It has been conjectured that this concealed slab, the existence of which appears to have been unknown to Dugdale and Dr. Whitaker," may have been the original memorial of Henry, second Earl, who died in 15G9, and of his second wife, Anne, daughter 'of Lord Dacres, bearing their portraitures, with those of their two sons, George and Francis, successively Earls of Cumberland ; and three daughters, Frances, wife of Lord Wharton, and two who died in 5 See Dugdalc's Bar. vol. i. p. Sif) ; Whitakci's Hist, of Craven, p. 614, edit. 1805.