In the Print Room are rare engravings by Earlom, McArdell, Turner, Cousins, Ward and Cole. On the center pillar of the entrance is the remarkable engraving, “The Executioner,” by Prince Rupert, after Spagnoletto; underneath it is “The Virgin and Child,” engraved by Theodore Caspara Furstenbergh, after Correggio. The large reassembled engraving on the left wall shows the family pedigree of Maximilian the Great, by Albrecht Durer (1515); the six engravings on either side of this piece are also by Durer.
A Spanish cabinet of the sixteenth century is placed on the left of the large Durer engraving; on the right a Dutch cabinet of the late seventeenth century. On the right of the entrance, in the center of the end wall, is an Italian ebony dresser of the sixteen-seventeenth century; between the windows are a number of bronze busts by Meunier.
An antique that attracts much interest, especially among students of history, is found in the right hand corner of this room, near the entrance—the chess table and set of chessmen once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte, and used by him during the six years of his imprisonment on the island of St. Helena. Tradition has it that the emperor’s heart was placed in the drawer of this table, after being sealed in a silver box, following the autopsy performed by Antommarchi. Doctor O’Meara, a physician placed in attendance on Napoleon by the British government, says in his memoirs that Lady Holland, of England, presented the famous Corsican with a chess table, and it is probable that this is the table referred to by O’Meara.
From the Print Room visitors enter the Tapestry Gallery. Covering almost the entire 90-foot length of the walls are Flemish tapestries of the late fifteenth century, depicting Prudence, Faith and Charity. On the left of the first fireplace is a sofa in French tapestry of Henry III period, late sixteenth century; the six tapestry chairs in the center of the gallery are Louis XIV. Four chairs and the sofa under the middle tapestry are of Louis XIV period.
In The Tapestry Gallery
The Grand Spiral Stairway
In the center is a large refectory table from an old English monastery, probably removed from its original setting during the reign of Henry VIII. Twelve Dresden china figures of the Twelve Apostles, bearing imprint of the Imperial Arms of Austria, are believed to have come from a private chapel of the Hapsburgs. Over the door into the Library is a portrait of George W. Vanderbilt by Sargent; on the left a Sargent portrait of his mother, Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt, and on the right a portrait of Mrs. Peter Goelet Gerry (formerly Mrs. George W. Vanderbilt) by Boldini.
