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TRAVEL LOVERS' LIBRARY
*
it0 (HxtXtB
BY
GRANT ALLEN
Author of
"Paris," "Venice," "Florence," "Cities of
Northern Italy," etc.
With a 'Photogravure Frontispiece
and Sixty-four Full ^age T^lates
in T^uogravure
®
BOSTON ,3t L. C. PAGE &
COMPANY ^ PUBLISHERS
^
*
Copyright, igoj
By L. C. Page & Company
(incorporated)
All rights reserved
New Edition, February, 1912
Eltetrotyptd and Printtd by
THE COLONIAL PRESS
C. H. Simonds &' Co., Boston, U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
THE object and plan of this book is some-
what different from that of any other
guides at present before the public. It does
not compete or clash with such existing works ;
it is rather intended to supplement than to sup-
plant them. My purpose is not to direct the
stranger through the streets and squares of an
unknown town towards the buildings or sights
which he may desire to visit ; still less is it my
design to give him practical information about
hotels, cab fares, omnibuses, tramways, and
other every-day material conveniences. For
such details, the traveller must still have re-
course to the trusty pages of his Baedeker, his
Joanne, or his Murray. I desire rather to supply
the tourist who wishes to use his travel as a
means of culture with such historical and anti-
quarian information as will enable him to un-
derstand, and therefore to enjoy, the architec-
5138562
viii Introduction
ture, sculpture, painting, and minor arts of the
towns he visits. In one word, it is my object to
give the reader in a very compendious form the
result of all those inquiries which have natur-
ally suggested themselves to my own mind
during thirty-five years of foreign travel, the
solution of which has cost myself a good deal
of research, thought, and labour, beyond the
facts which I could find in the ordinary hand-
books.
For several years past I have devoted myself
to collecting and arranging material for a set
of books to embody the idea I had thus enter-
tained. I earnestly hope they may meet a want
on the part of tourists, especially Americans,
who, so far as my experience goes, usually
come to Europe with an honest and reverent
desire to learn from the Old World whatever
of value it has to teach them, and who are
prepared to take an amount of pains in turning
their trip to good account which is both rare
and praiseworthy. For such readers I shall
call attention at times to other sources of
information.
The general plan pursued will be somewhat
as follows. First will come the inquiry why
Introduction ix
a town ever gathered together at all at that
particular spot — what induced the aggrega-
tion of human beings rather there than else-
where. Next, we shall consider why that town
grew to social or political importance and what
were the stages by which it assumed its present
shape. Thirdly, we shall ask why it gave rise
to that higher form of handicraft which we
know as Art, and toward what particular arts
it especially gravitated. After that, we shall
take in detail the various strata of its growth
or development, examining the buildings and
works of art which they contain in historical
order, and, as far as possible, tracing the causes
which led to their evolution. In particular, we
shall lay stress upon the origin and meaning
of each structure as an organic whole, and
upon the allusions or symbols which its fabric
embodies.
A single instance will show the method upon
which I intend to proceed better than any
amount of general description. A church, as
a rule, is built over the body or relics of a
particular saint, in whose special honour it was
originally erected. That saint was usually one
of great local importance at the moment of its
X Introduction
erection, or was peculiarly implored against
plague, foreign enemies, or some other press-
ing and dreaded misfortune. In dealing with
such a church, then, I endeavour to show what
were the circumstances which led to its erec-
tion, and what memorials of these circum-
stances it still retains. In other cases it may
derive its origin from some special monastic
body — Benedictine, Dominican, Franciscan
— and may therefore be full of the peculiar
symbolism and historical allusion of the order
who founded it. Wherever I have to deal with
such a church, I try as far as possible to ex-
hibit the effect which its origin had upon its
architecture and decoration ; to trace the image
of the patron saint in sculpture or stained
glass throughout the fabric; and to set forth
the connection of the whole design with time
and place, with order and purpose. In short,
instead of looking upon monuments of the
sort mainly as the product of this or that arch-
itect, I look upon them rather as material em-
bodiments of the spirit of the age — crystalli-
zations, as it were, in stone and bronze, in
form and colour, of great popular enthusiasms.
By thus concentrating attention on what is
Introduction xi
essential and important in a town, I hope to
give in a comparatively short space, though
with inevitable conciseness, a fuller account
than is usually given of the chief architectural
and miOnumental works of the principal art-
cities. The passing life of the moment does not
enter into my plan; I regard each town I en-
deavour to illustrate mainly as a museum of its
own history.
For this reason, too, I shall devote most
attention in every case to what is locally illus-
trative, and less to what is merely adventitious
and foreign. I shall assign a due amount of
space, indeed, to the foreign collections, but
I shall call attention chiefly to those monu-
ments or objects which are of entirely local
and typical value.
As regards the character of the information
given, it will be mainly historical, antiquarian,
and, above all, explanatory. I am not a con-
noisseur — an adept in the difficult modern
science of distinguishing the handicraft of
various masters, in painting or sculpture, by
minute signs and delicate inferential processes.
In such matters, I shall be well content to
follow the lead of the most authoritative ex-
xii Introduction
perts. Nor am I an art-critic — a student
versed in the technique of the studios and the
dialect of the modelHng-room. In such mat-
ters, again, I shall attempt little more than to
accept the general opinion of the most dis-
criminative judges. What I aim at rather is
to expound the history and meaning of each
work — to put the intelligent reader in such
a position that he may judge for himself of
the (Esthetic beauty and success of the object
before him. To recognize the fact that this
is a Perseus and Andromeda, that a St. Bar-
bara enthroned, the other an obscure episode
in the legend of St. Philip, is not art-criticism,
but it is often an almost indispensable prelude
to the formation of a right and sound judg-
ment. We must know what the artist was
trying to represent before we can feel sure what
measure of success he has attained in his repre-
sentation.
For the general study of Christian art,
alike in architecture, sculpture, and painting,
no treatises are more useful for the tourist to
carry with him for constant reference than
Mrs. Jameson's " Sacred and Legendary Art,"
and *'* Legends of the Madonna " (London,
Introduction xiii
Longmans). For works of Italian art, both in
Italy and elsewhere, Kugler's " Italian Schools
of Painting- " is an invaluable vade-mecum.
These books should be carried about by every-
body everywhere. Other works of special and
local importance will occasionally be noticed
under each particular city, church, or museum.
Whenever in the text paintings or other ob-
jects are numbered, the numbers used are
always those of the latest official catalogues.
Individual works of merit are distinguished
by an asterisk (*) ; those of very exceptional
interest and merit have two asterisks.
CONTENTS
Introduction
I. Omgins of the Belgian Towns .
II. The History of the Belgian Towns
III. Order of the Tour ....
IV. Origins of Bruges ....
V. The Heart of Bruges .
VI. The Hospital of St. John .
VII. The Town of Bruges in General
VIII. The Churches of Bruges
IX. The Academy of Bruges
X. Origins of Ghent ....
XI. The Core of Ghent
XII. The Cathedral of Ghent .
XIII. The Outskirts of Ghent
XIV. Origins of Brussels
XV. The Heart of Brussels
XVT. The Brussels Picture Gallery:
of the Old Masters .
XVII. The Brussels Picture Gallery:
Other Halls
Hall
PAGE
vi
II
23
45
48
54
73
93
lOI
120
133
140
155
179
193
197
208
241
Contents
CHAPTES FACE
XVIII. The Cathedral of Brussels . . .270
XIX. The Upper Town 283
XX. The Surroundings of Brussels . . . 303
XXI. Origins of Antwerp 317
XXII. The Cathedral of Antwerp . . . 326
XXIII. The Antwerp Picture Gallery: Hall of
THE Ancient Masters 341
XXIV. The Antwerp Picture Gallery: the
Other Halls: the Rubens Room ., .367
XXV. The Town of Antwerp in General . . 396
Index 4^9
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
H. AND J. VAN Eyck. — The Angel Gabreel (detail
from the Adoration of the Lamb) {See page 173)
Frontispiece
The Belfry and Grand' Place, Bruges ... 55
Palace of the Provincial Government and Post-
office, Bruges 58
Chapelle du Saint Sang, Bruges . . . . 61
Interior of Chapelle du Saint Sang, Bruges . 65
Hospital of St. John, Bruges 7g
Memling. — Shrine of St. Ursula .... 80
Memling. — Adoration of the Magi .... 84
Memling. — Martin van Nieuwenhoven ... 87
Memling. — St. John the Evangelist ... 90
Place Jan van Eyck, Bruges 94
Church of Jerusalem, Bruges 98
Cathedral of St. Sauveur, Bruges . . . .101
PouRBus. — The Last Supper 104
Church of Notre Dame and Porch, Bruges . 108
Bekere. — Tomb of Mary of Burgundy . . .111
Michael Angelo. — Madonna and Child . . .113
LUCA DELLA ROBBIA. — MadONNA AND ChILD . . Il8
List of Illustrations
PAGE
Jan van Eyck. — St. George (detail from Ma-
donna and Child) 122
David. — Outer Wings of Triptych . . . .128
Belfry and Cloth Hall, Ghent .... 142
Hotel de Ville, Ghent 144
Van Dyck. — Crucifixion 147
The Dulle Grtete, Ghent 151
Church of St. Jacques, Ghent 153
Cathedral of St. Bavon, Ghent 159
Pulpit of the Cathedral, Ghent . . . .160
H. AND J. VAN Eyck. — Adoration of the Lamb
(central panel) 165
H. AND J. VAN Eyck. — God the Father (detail
from the Adoration of the Lamb) . . .170
H. AND J. VAN Eyck. — Singing Angels (detail from
the Adoration of the Lamb) 172
Rubens. — Conversion of St. Bavon . . . .176
Ruins of the Abbey of St. Bavon, Ghent . . 182
Steen of Gerard le Diable, Ghent .... 185
Hotel de Ville, Brussels 198
Maison du Roi, Brussels 200
Bouts. — Justice of the Emperor Otho (first
panel) 227
Memling. — Triptych 230
Jan van Eyck. — Adoration of the Magi . .232
Matsys. — Triptych 239
Teniers. — The Five Senses 252
Hals. — Portrait of W. van Heythuysen . . 264
Jan Steen. — The Rhetorictans 266
Facade of the Cathedral, Brussels . . . .272
Verbruggen. — Pulpit in the Cathedral, Brus-
sels 277
List of Illustrations
PAGE
Palais de Justice, Brussels 284
Palais de la Nation, Brussels 290
The Bourse, Brussels 299
Place Verte, Antwerp 326
Nave of the Cathedral, Antwerp .... 330
Rubens. — Descent from the Cross .... 333
Rubens. — Assumption (and the High Altar) . . 335
Pulpit in the Cathedral, Antwerp .... 340
Picture Gallery, Antwerp 342
Memling. — Portrait of a Premonstratenslan
Canon '-358
Van der Weyden. — The Seven Sacraments . . 360
Matsys. — The Entombment (central panel) . . 371
Jordaens. — "As Sing the Old, So Pipe the
Young" 380
Rubens. — Coup de Lance 383
Rubens. — Triptych 384
Hotel de Ville, Antwerp 397
Esplanade, Antwerp 402
House of Rubens's Parents, Antwerp . . . 408
Interior of St. Jacques, Antwerp .... 410
Rubens. — Madonna and Child 412
Gate to the Fortifications, Antwerp . . . 416
Belgium: Its Cities
CHAPTER I.
ORIGINS OF THE BELGIAN TOWNE
THE somewhat heterogeneous country
which we now call Belgium formed part
of Gaul under the Roman Empire. But though
rich and commercial even then, it seems to
have been relatively little Romanized; and in
the beginning of the fifth century it was over-
run by the Salic Franks, on their way toward
Laon, Soissons, and Paris. When civilization
began to creep northward again in the ninth
century through the districts barbarized by the
Teutonic invasion, it was the Prankish Charle-
magne (Karl the Great) who introduced
Roman arts afresh into the Upper and Lower
Rhinelands. The Rhine from Basle to Cologne
12 Belgium : Its Cities
was naturally the region most influenced by
this new Roman revival; but as Charlemagne
had his chief seat at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen),
near the modern Belgian frontier, the west-
ern Frankish provinces were also included
in the sphere of his improvements. When
the kingdom of the Franks began to divide
more or less definitely into the Empire and
France, the Flemish region formed nomi-
nally part of the Neustrian and, later, of the
French dominions. From a very early date,
however, it was practically almost independ-
ent, and it became so even in name during
its later stages. But Brabant, with Brussels,
remained a portion of the Empire.
The Rhine constituted the great central
waterway of mediaeval Europe; the Flemish
towns were its ports and its manufacturing
centres. They filled in the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries much the same place that
Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, and Birming-
ham fill in the twentieth. Many causes con-
tributed to this result. Flanders, half-inde-
pendent under its own counts, occupied a mid-
dle position, geographically and politically,
between France and the Empire; it was com-
Origins of the Belgian Towns 13
paratively free from the disastrous wars which
desolated both these countries, and in particu-
lar (see under Ghent) it largely escaped the
long smouldering quarrel between French and
English which so long retarded the develop-
ment of the former. Its commercial towns,
again, were not exposed on the open sea to
the attacks of pirates or hostile fleets, but were
safely ensconced in inland flats, reached by
rivers or canals, almost inaccessible to mari-
time enemies. Similar conditions elsewhere
early ensured peace and prosperity for Venice.
The canal system of Holland and Belgium
began to be developed as early as the twelfth
century (at first for drainage), and was one
leading cause of the commercial importance
of the Flemish cities in the fourteenth. In so
flat a country, locks are all but unnecessary.
The two towns which earliest rose to great-
ness in the Belgian area were thus Bruges and
Ghent; they possessed in the highest degree
the combined advantages of easy access to the
sea and comparative inland security. Bruges,
in particular, was one of the chief stations of
the Hanseatic League, which formed an essen-
tially commercial alliance for the mutual pro-
14 Belgium : Its Cities
lection of the northern trading centres. By the
fourteenth century Bruges had thus become
in the north what Venice was in the south,
the capital of commerce. Trading companies
from all the surrounding countries had their
" factories " in the town, and every European
king or prince of importance kept a resident
minister accredited to the merchant Republic.
Some comprehension of the mercantile con-
dition of Europe in general during the Middle
Ages is necessary in order to understand the
early importance and wealth of the Flemish
cities. Southern Europe, and in particular
Italy, was then still the seat of all higher
civilization, more especially of the trade in
manufactured articles and objects of luxury.
Florence, Venice, and Genoa ranked as the
polished and learned cities of the world. Fur-
ther east, again, Constantinople still remained
in the hands of the Greek emperors, or, during
the Crusades, of their Latin rivals. A brisk
trade existed via the Mediterranean between
Europe and India or the nearer East. This dou-
ble stream of traffic ran along two main routes
— one, by the Rhine, from Lombardy and
Rome; the other, by sea, from Venice, Genoa,
Origins of the Belgian Towns 15
Florence, Constantinople, the Levant, and In-
dia. On the other hand, France was still but a
half-civilized country, with few manufactures
and little external trade; while England was
an exporter of raw produce, chiefly wool, like
Australia in our own time. The Hanseatic
merchants of Cologne held the trade of Lon-
don; those of Wisby and Liibeck governed
that of the Baltic; Bruges, as head of the
Hansa, was in close connection with all of
these, as well as with Hull, York, Novgorod,
and Bergen, The position of the Flemish
towns in the fourteenth century was thus not
wholly unlike that of New York, Philadelphia,
and Boston at the present day; they stood as
intermediaries between the older civilized
countries, like Italy or the Greek empire, and
the newer producers of raw material, like
England, North Germany, and the Baltic
towns.
The local manufactures of Flanders con-
sisted chiefly of woollen goods and linens ; the
imports included Italian luxuries, Spanish figs
and raisins, Egyptian dates, Oriental silks,
English wool, cattle, and metals, Rhenish
wines, and Baltic furs, skins, and walrus tusks.
l6 Belgium : Its Cities
In the early sixteenth century, when navi-
gation had assumed new conditions, and trade
was largely diverted to the Atlantic, Antwerp,
the port of the Schelde, superseded the towns on
the inland network. As Venice sank, Antwerp
rose.
The art that grew up in the Flemish cities
during their epoch of continuous commercial
development bears on its very face the visible
impress of its mercantile origin. France is
essentially a monarchical country, and it is
centralized in Paris ; everything in old French
art is therefore regal and lordly. The Italian
towns were oligarchies of nobles; so the prin-
cipal buildings of Florence and Venice are the
castles or palaces of the princely families,
while their pictures represent the type of art
that belongs in its nature to a cultivated aris-
tocracy. But in Flanders everything is in
essence commercial. The architecture consists,
mainly, not of private palaces, but of guilds,
town halls, exchanges, belfries: the pictures
are the portraits of solid and successful mer-
chants, or the devotional works which a
merchant donor presented to the patron saint
of his town or business. They are almost
Origins of the Belgian Towns 17
overloaded with details of fur, brocade, jew-
elry, lace, gold, silver, polished brass, glass-
work. Oriental carpets, and richly carved
furniture. In order to understand Flemish art,
therefore, it is necessary to bear in mind at
every step that it is the art of a purely com-
mercial people.
Another point which differentiates Flemish
painting from the painting of Italy during
the same period is the complete absence of any
opportunity for the display of frescoes. In
the Italian churches, where the walls serve
largely for support, and the full southern light
makes the size of the windows of less impor-
tance, great surfaces were left bare in the nave
and aisles, or in the lower part of the choir,
crying aloud for decoration at the hands of the
fresco-painter. But in the northern Gothic,
which aimed above all things at height and
the soaring effect, and which almost annihi-
lated the wall, by making its churches consist
of rows of vast windows with intervening
piers or buttresses, the opportunity for mural
decoration occurred but seldom. The climate
also destroyed frescoes. Hence the works of
pictorial art in Flemish buildings are almost
1 8 Belgium: Its Cities
confined to altar-pieces and votive tablets.
Again, the great school of painting in early-
Italy (from Giotto to Perugino) was a school
of fresco-painters; but in Flanders no high
type of art rose till the discovery of oil-painting.
Pictures were usually imported from the Rhine
towns. Hence, pictorial art in the Low
Countries seems to spring almost full-fledged,
instead of being traceable through gradual
stages of evolution as in Italy. Most of the
best early paintings are small and highly fin-
ished : it was only at a comparatively late date,
when Antwerp became the leading town, that
Italian influence began to produce the larger
and coarser canvases of Rubens and his fol-
lowers.
Very early Flemish art greatly resembles
the art of the School of Cologne, Only with
Hubert and Jan van Eyck (about 1360 — 1440)
does the distinctively Flemish taste begin to
show itself — the taste for delicate and mi-
nute workmanship, linked with a peculiar
realistic idealism, more dainty than German
work, more literal than Italian. It is an art
that bases itself upon truth of imitation and
perfection of finish: its chief aesthetic beauty
Origins of the Belgian Towns 19
is its jewel-like colour and its wealth of decora-
tive adjuncts. The subsequent development
of Flemish painting — the painting that pleased
a clique of opulent commercial patrons — we
shall trace in detail in the various cities.
Whoever wishes to gain a deeper insight
into Flemish painting should take in his port-
manteau Sir Martin Conway's " Early Flemish
Artists," a brilliant and masterly work of the
first importance, to which this Guide is deeply
indebted.
The political history of the country during
this flourishing period of the Middle Ages has
also stamped itself, though somewhat less
deeply, on the character of the towns and of
the art evolved in them. The Counts of Flan-
ders, originally mere lords of Bruges and its
district, held their dominions of the Kings of
France. Their territory included not only Arras
(at first the capital, now included in France)
with Bruges, Ghent, Courtrai, Tournay, and
Ypres, but also the towns and districts of Va-
lenciennes, Lille, and St. Omer, which are now
French. From the time of Baldwin VIII.
(1191), however. Arras became a part of
France, and Ghent was erected into the capital
20 Belgium : Its Cities
of Flanders. In the beginning of the thirteenth
century, two women sovereigns ruled in succes-
sion ; under them, and during the absence of the
elective Counts on crusades, the towns rose to be
practically burgher republics. Bruges, Ypres,
Ghent, and Lille were said to possess each
forty thousand looms; and though this is cer-
tainly a mediaeval exaggeration, yet the Flemish
cities at this epoch were at any rate the chief
manufacturing and trading centres of northern
Europe, while London was still a mere local
emporium.
In the fourteenth century, the cities acquired
still greater freedom. The citizens had always
claimed the right to elect their count; and the
people of Ghent now made treaties without
him on their own account with Edward III. of
England. To this age belongs the heroic
period of the Van Arteveldes at Ghent, when
the burghers became the real rulers of Flanders,
as will be more fully described hereafter. In
1384, however. Count Louis III. died, leaving
an only daughter, who was married to Philip
the Bold of Burgundy ; and the wealthy Flem-
ish towns thus passed under the sway of the
powerful princes of Dijon. Brabant fell later
Origins o£ the Belgian Towns 2l
by inheritance, to Philip the Good. It was under
the Burgundian dynasty, who often held their
court at Ghent, that the arts of the Netherlands
attained their first great development. Philip
the Good (1419 — 1467) employed Jan van
Eyck as his court painter ; and during his reign
or just after it the chief works of Flemish art
were produced in Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and
Toumay.
Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy,
left one daughter, Mary, who was married to
Maximilian, afterward emperor. From that
date forward the history of the Flemish towns
is practically merged in that of the dynasty
of Charles V., and finally becomes the story
of an unwilling and ever justly rebellious Span-
ish province. The subsequent vicissitudes of
Belgium as an Austrian appanage, a part of
Holland, and an independent kingdom, belong
to the domain of European history. For the
visitor, it is the period of the Burgundian
supremacy that really counts in the cities of
Belgium.
Yet the one great point for the tourist to bear
in mind is really this — that the art of the
Flemish towns is essentially the art of a group
22 Belgium : Its Cities
of burgher communities. It is frankly com-
mercial, neither royal nor aristocratic. In its
beginnings it develops a strictly municipal
architecture, with a school of painters who
aimed at portraiture and sacred panel pictures.
After the Reformation had destroyed sacred
art in Holland, painting in that part of the
Netherlands confined itself to portraits and to
somewhat vulgar popular scenes : while in Bel-
gium it was Italianized, or rather Titianized
and Veronese'd, by Rubens and his followers.
But in its best days it was national, local, and
sacred or personal.
Take Conway's " Early Flemish Artists "
with you in your portmanteau, and read over
in the evening his account of the works you
have seen during the day.
CHAPTER II.
THE HISTORY OF THE BELGIAN TOWNS
IN the separate introductions to the various
towns, dealing rather with origins than
with history, I shall lay stress chiefly on the
industrial and municipal facts, which in Bel-
gium, indeed, are all-important. I give here,
however, a few general notes on the political
history of the country as a whole, chiefly
dynastic. These may serve for reference, or
at least as reminders; and in particular they
should be useful as giving some information
about the originals of portraits in the various
galleries.
The two portions of the modern kingdom
of Belgium with which we are most concerned
in this Guide are the County of Flanders and
the Duchy of Brabant. The first was origi-
nally a fief of France ; the second, a competent
member of the Empire. They were commer-
23
24 Belgium : Its Cities
daily wealthier than the other portions of the
Gallo-German borderland which is now Bel-
gium; they were also the parts most afifected
by the Burgundian princes; on both which
accounts, they are still by far the richest in
works of art, alike in architecture, in painting,
and in sculpture.
The vast Prankish dominions of the Mero-
vingians and of the descendants of Charle-
magne — of the Merwings and Karlings, to
be more strictly Teutonic — showed at all
times a tendency to break up into two dis-
tinct realms, known as the Eastern and West-
ern Kingdoms (Austria — not, of course, in
the modern sense — and Neustria). These
kingdoms were not artificial, but based on a
real difference of race and speech. The East-
ern Kingdom (Franken or Franconia) where
the Prankish and Teutonic blood was purest,
became first the Empire, in the restricted sense,
and later Germany and Austria (in part).
The Western Kingdom (Neustria) where
Celtic or Gallic blood predominated, and where
the speech was Latin, or (later) French, be-
came in time the Kingdom of France. But
between these two Prancias, and especially
History of the Belgian Towns 25
during the period of unrest, there existed a
certain number of middle provinces, sometimes
even a middle kingdom, known from its first
possessor, Lothar, son of Charlemagne, as
Lotharingia or Lorraine. Of these middle
provinces, the chief northern members were
Flanders, Brabant, Hainault, and Liege.
Flanders in the early Middle Ages was a
fief of France ; it included not only the modern
Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders,
but also French Flanders, that is to say, the
Department of the Nord and part of the Pas
de Calais. As early as the Treaty of Verdun
(843), the land of Flanders was assigned to
Neustria. But the county, as we know it,
really grew up from the possessions of a noble
family at Bruges and Sluys, the head of which
was originally known as forester or ranger.
In 862, the King of France, as suzerain,
changed this title to that of count, in the
person of Baldwin Bras-de-Fer (Baldwin I.).
Baldwin was also invested with the charge of
the neighbouring coast of France proper, on
tenure of defending it against the Norman
pirates. In 1006, his descendant, Baldwin IV.,
seized the Emperor's town of Valenciennes;
26 Belgium: Its Cities
and having shown his abiHty to keep his booty,
he was invested by the Franconian Henry II.
with this district as a fief, so that he thus
became a feudatory both of France and of the
Empire. He was also presented with Ghent
and the Isles of Zealand. Baldwin V. ( 1036)
added to the growing principality the districts
of Alost, Tournay, and Hainault. The petty
dynastic quarrels of the eleventh century are
far too intricate for record here; in the end,
the domains of the counts were approximately
restricted to what we now know as Flanders
proper. A bare list of names and dates must
suffice for this epoch: — Baldwin V. (1036 —
1067); Baldwin VI. (1067 — 1070); Robert
11. (1093 — nil); and Baldwin VII. (mi
— 1119).
After this date, the native line having be-
come extinct, the county was held by foreign
elective princes, under whom the power of
the towns increased greatly. Among these
alien counts, the most distinguished was
Theodoric (in French, Thierry; in German,
Dietrich; or in Dutch, Dierick) of Alsace,
who was a distinguished Crusader, and the
History of the Belgian Towns 27
founder of the Chapel of the Holy Blood at
Bruges (which see).
Under Baldwin of Hainault (1191 — 1194)
Artois was ceded to France, together with
St. Omer and Hesdin. Henceforth, Ghent
superseded Arras as the capital. Baldwin IX.
(1194 — 1206) became a mighty Crusader,
and founded the Latin Empire of Constanti-
nople. Indeed, the Crusades were largely
manned and managed by Flemings. He was
followed in Flanders by his two daughters,
Johanna and Margaret, under whose rule the
cities gained still greater privileges. Mar-
garet's son, Guy de Dampierre, was the
creature of Philippe IV. of France, who en-
deavoured to rule Flanders through his min-
ister, Chatillon. The Flemings answered by
just revolt, and fought the famous Battle of
the Spurs near Courtrai, already described,
against the French interlopers (see Bruges).
In 1322, Louis de Nevers (Louis I.) became
count, and provoked by his Gallicizing and
despotic tendencies the formidable rebellion
under Van Artevelde (see Ghent). The quar-
rel between the league of burghers and their
lord continued more or less during the reigns
2& Belgium : Its Cities
of Count Louis II, (1346) and Louis III.,
who died in 1385, leaving one daughter, Mar-
garet, married to Philip the Bold (Philippe-
le-Hardi) of Burgundy.
The political revolution caused in Flanders
and Brabant by the accession of the Burgnn-
dian dynasty was so deep-reaching that a few
words must be devoted to the origin and rise
of this powerful family, a branch of the royal
Valois of France. The old Kingdom of Bur-
gfundy had, of course, been long extinct; but
its name was inherited by two distinct prin-
cipalities, the Duchy of Burgundy, which
formed part of France, and the County of
Burgundy (Franche Comte), which was a fief
of the Empire. In the fourteenth century, a
new middle kingdom, like the earlier Lotha-
ringia, seemed likely to arise by the sudden
growth of a practically independent power in
this debatable land between France and Ger-
many. In 1 36 1, the Duchy of Burgundy fell
in to the crown of France; and in order, as
he thought, to secure its union with the central
authority, John the Good of France (Jean-le-
Bon), during the troublous times after the
Treaty of Bretigny, conferred it as a fief upon
History of the Belgian Towns 29
his son, Philippe de Valois (PhiHp the Bold,
or PhiHppe-le-Hardi ) who married Margaret
of Flanders, thus uniting two of the greatest
vassal principalities of the French crown. In
1385, on the death of Louis III., Philip suc-
ceeded to the County of Flanders, now practi-
cally almost an independent state. After him
reigned three other princes of his family.
John the Fearless (Jean-sans-Peur, 1404 —
1419) will be remembered by visitors to Paris
as the builder of the Porte Rouge at Notre-
Dame de Paris. Philip the Good (Philippe-
le-Bon, 1419 — 1467) was the patron of Van
Eyck and Memling. (His portrait by Roger
van der Weyden is in the Antwerp Gallery.)
Charles the Bold ( Charles-le-Temeraire, 1467
— 1477) raised the power of the house to its
utmost pitch, and then destroyed it. (His
portrait by Memling is in the Brussels Gal-
lery.) Contrary, however, to the belief of
John the Good, the princes of the Valois dy-
nasty in Burgundy, instead of remaining
loyal to the crown of France, became some
of its most dangerous and dreaded rivals.
All these dukes, as French princes, played
at the same time an important part in the
30 Belgium : Its Cities
affairs of France, They also won, by mar-
riage, by purchase, by treaty, or by conquest,
large territories within the Empire, including
most of modern Belgium and Holland, to-
gether with much that is now part of France.
They were thus, like their Flemish predeces-
sors, vassals at once of the Emperor and the
French king; but they were really more pow-
erful than either of their nominal overlords;
for their central position between the two
jealous neighbours gave them great advan-
tages, while their possession of the wealthy
cities of the Lx)w Countries made them into
the richest princes in mediaeval Europe. It
was at their opulent and ostentatious court that
Van Eyck and Memling painted the gorgeous
pictures which still preserve for us some vague
memory of this old-world splendour. At the
same time, the increased power of the princes,
who could draw upon their other dominions
to suppress risings in Flanders, told unfavour-
ably upon the liberties of the cities. The Bur-
gundian dominion thus sowed the seeds of
the Spanish despotism.
Jean-sans-Peur was murdered by the Dau-
phin, afterwards Charles VII.; and this
History of the Belgian Towns 31
cousinly crime threw his son, Philippe-le-Bon,
into the arms of the English. It was the
poHcv of Burgundy and Flanders, indeed, to
weaken the royal power by all possible means.
Philip supported the English cause in France
for many years; and it was his defection,
after the Treaty of Arras in 1435, that des-
stroyed the chances of Henry VI. on the Con-
tinent. The reign of Philippe-le-Bon, we saw,
was the Augustan age of the Burgimdian
dynasty. (Fully to understand Burgundian
art, however, you must visit Dijon as well as
Brabant and Flanders.) Under Charles the
Bold, the most ambitious prince of the Bur-
gundian house, the power of the dukes was
raised for a time to its highest pitch, and then
began to collapse suddenly. A constant rivalry
existed between Charles and his nominal
suzerain, Louis XI. It was Charles's dream
to restore or re-create the old Burgundian
kingdom by annexing Lorraine, with its cap-
ital, Nancy, and conquering the rising Swiss
Confederacy. He would thus have consoli-
dated his dominions in the Netherlands with
his discontinuous Duchy and County of Bur-
gundy. He had even designs upon Provence,
32 Belgium : Its Cities
then as yet an independent county. Louis XI.
met these attempts to create a rival state by
a policy of stirring up enemies against his too
powerful feudatory. In his war with the
Swiss, Charles was signally defeated in the
decisive battles at Granson and Morat, in
1476. In the succeeding year, he was routed
and killed at Nancy, whither the Swiss had
gone to help Rene, Duke of Lorraine, in his
effort to win back his duchy from Charles.
The conquered duke was buried at Nancy,
but his body was afterwards brought to Bruges
by his descendant^ the Emperor Charles V.,
and now reposes in the splendid tomb which
we have seen at Notre-Dame in that city.
This war had important results. It largely
broke down the power of Burgundy. Charles's
daughter, Mary, kept the Low Countries and
the County of Burgundy (Imperial) ; but the
duchy (French) reverted to the crown of
France, with which it was ever after asso-
ciated. The scheme of a great Middle King-
dom thus came to an end ; and the destinies
of the Low Countries were entirely altered.
We have next to consider the dynastic
events by which the Low Countries passed
History of the Belgian Towns 33
under the rule of the House of Hapsburg.
In 1477, Mary of Burgundy succeeded her
father, Charles, as Countess of Flanders,
Duchess of Brabant, etc. In the same year
she was married to Maximilian of Austria,
King of the Romans, son of the Emperor
Frederic III. (or IV.). Maximilian was
afterwards elected Emjperor on his father's
death. The children of this marriage were
Philip the Handsome ( Philippe-le-Beau, or le-
Bel; Philippus Stok), who died in 1506, and
Margaret of Austria. Philip, again, married
Johanna (Juana) the Mad, of Castile, and
thus became King of Castile, in right of his
wife. The various steps by which these dif-
ferent sovereignties were cumulated in the
person of Philip's son, Charles V., are so im-
portant to a proper comprehension of the sub-
ject that I venture to tabulate them.
Frederic III. (or IV.) Charles the Bold.
I I
Ferdinand = Isabella Maximilian := Mary
(of Aragon)
(of Castile) (of Austria)
(of Burgundy)
Johanna the Mad = Philippe-le-Beau
(of Spain) I (of Burgundy and Austria)
Charles V.
34 Belgium : Its Cities
During the lifetime of Maximilian, who was
afterwards Emperor, Mary, and her son
Philippe-le-Beau, ruled at first in the Low
Countries (for the quarrel between Maximilian
and Bruges over the tutorship of Philippe,
see p. 59). After the death of Isabella of
Castile, Ferdinand retired to Aragon, and
Philippe ruled Castile on behalf of his insane
wife, Juana. Philippe died in 1506, and his
sister, Margaret of Austria, then ruled as
regent in the Netherlands (for Charles) till
her death in 1530. Charles V., born at Ghent,
in 1500, was elected to the Empire after his
grandfather, Maximilian L, and thus became
at once Emperor, King of Spain, Duke of
Austria, and ruler of the Low Countries. (In
1 5 16 he succeeded Ferdinand in the Kingdom
of Spain, and in 15 19 was elected Emperor.)
The same series of events carried the Nether-
lands, quite accidentally, under Spanish rule.
For Charles was an absolutist, who governed
on essentially despotic principles. His conduct
towards Ghent in 1539 brought affairs to a
crisis. The Emperor, in pursuance of his plans
against France, had demanded an enormous
subsidy from the city, which the burgesses
History of the Belgian Towns 35
constitutionally refused to grant, meeting the
unjust extortion by open rebellion. They even
entered into negotiations with Francis I. ; who,
however, with the base instinct of a brother
absolutist, betrayed their secret to his enemy,
the Emperor. Charles actually obtained leave
from Francis to march a Spanish army through
France to punish the Flemings, and arrived
with a powerful force before the rebellious
city. The Ghenters demanded pardon; but
Charles, deeply incensed, entered the town
under arms, and took up his abode there in
triumph. Alva, his ruthless Spanish com-
mander (portrait in the Brussels Gallery), sug-
gested that the town should be utterly des-
troyed; but the Emperor could not afford to
part with his richest and most populous city,
nor could even he endure to destroy his birth-
place. He contented himself with a terrible
vengeance, beheading the ringleaders, banish-
ing the minor patriots, and forfeiting the goods
of all suspected persons. The city was declared
guilty of lese-'fttajeste, and the town magis-
trates, with the chiefs of the Guilds, were com-
pelled to appear before Charles with halters
round their necks, and to beg for pardon. The
36 Belgium : Its Cities
Emperor also ordered that no magistrate of
Ghent should ever thenceforth appear in public
without a halter, a badge which became with
time a mere silken decoration. The privileges
of the city were at the same time abolished, and
the famous old bell, Roland, was removed from
the Belfry.
Thenceforth Charles treated the Netherlands
as a conquered Spanish territory. He dissolved
the monastery of St. Bavon, and erected on its
site the great Citadel, which he garrisoned with
Spaniards, to repress the native love of liberty
of the Flemings (see Ghent). In subsequent
risings of the Low Countries, the Spaniards'
Castle, the stronghold of the alien force, was
the first point to be attacked; and on it de-
pended the issue of freedom or slavery in the
Netherlands. Charles also established the In-
quisition, which is said to have put to death
no few^er than one hundred thousand persons.
In 1555, the Emperor abdicated in favour
of his son Philip, known as Philip II. of Spain.
But his brother Ferdinand, to whom he had
resigned his Austrian dominions, was elected
Emperor (having been already King of the
Romans) as Ferdinand I. From his time forth,
History of the Belgian Towns 37
the Empire became more exclusively German,
so that its connection with Rome was almost
forgotten save as a historic myth, degenerat-
ing into the mere legal fiction of a Holy Roman
Empire, with nothing Roman in it. Thus, the
Netherlands alone of the earlier Burgundian
heritage remained in the holding of the Aus-
trian kings of Spain, who ruled them nominally
as native sovereigns, but practically as Span-
iards and aliens by means of imported military
garrisons.
Philip II. — austere, narrow, domineering,
fanatical — remained only four years in the
Netherlands, and then retired to Spain, appoint-
ing his half-sister, Margaret of Parma (illegit-
imate daughter of Charles V.), regent of the
Low Countries (1559 — 1567). She resided
in the Ancienne Cour at Brussels. Her minis-
ter, Granvella, Bishop of Arras, made himself
so unpopular, and the measures taken against
the Protestants were sO' severe^ that the cities,
ever the strongholds of liberty, showed signs
of revolution. They objected to the illegal
maintenance of a Spanish standing army, and
also to the Inquisition. In April, 1567, as a
consequence of the discontents, the Duke of
38 Belgium : Its Cities
Alva was sent with ten thousand men as Heu-
tenant-general to the Netherlands, to suppress
what was known as the Beggars' League (Les
Gueux), now practically headed by the Prince
of Orange (William the Silent). Alva entered
Brussels with his Spanish and Italian merce-
naries and treacherously seized his two sus-
pected antagonists, Count Egmont and Count
Hoorn. The two patriotic noblemen were im-
prisoned at Ghent, in the Spaniards' Castle,
were condemned to death, and finally beheaded
in the Grand' Place at Brussels. ( For fuller de-
tails of the great revolutionary movement thus
inaugurated, see Motley's " Rise of the Dutch
Republic," and Juste's " Le Comte d'Egmont
et le Comte de Homes.") Alva also estab-
lished in Brussels his infamous " Council of
Troubles," which put to death in cold blood
no less than twenty thousand inoffensive
burghers. His cold and impassive cruelty led
to the Revolt of the United Provinces in 1568
— a general movement of all the Spanish
Netherlands (as they now began to be called)
to throw off the hateful yoke of Spain. Under
the able leadership of William of Orange, the
Flemings besieged and reduced the Spaniards'
History of the Belgian Towns 39
Castle at Ghent. In the deadly struggle for
freedom which ensued, the Northern Provinces
(Holland), aided by their great natural advan-
tages for defence among the flooded marshes
of the Rhine delta, succeeded in casting oflf
their allegiance to Philip. They were then
known as the United Netherlands. The long
and heroic contest of the Southern Provinces
(Belgium) against the Spanish oppressor was
not equally successful. A desperate struggle
for liberty met with little result, and the Spanish
sovereigns continued to govern their Belgian
dominions like a conquered country. In 1578,
Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma (son of
Margaret) , was sent as Governor to the Nether-
lands, where he remained in power till 1596. In
the prosecution of the war against the Northern
Provinces (Holland), he besieged Antwerp,
and took it after fourteen months, in 1585. In
the " Spanish Fury " which followed, Antwerp
was almost destroyed, and all its noblest build-
ings ruined. Nevertheless, under Parma's rule,
the other cities recovered to a certain extent
their municipal freedom; though the country
as a whole was still treated as a vanquished
province.
40 Belgium : Its Cities
The next great landmark of Belgian history
is the passage of the Spanish Netherlands under
Austrian rule. The first indefinite steps toward
this revolution were taken in 1598, when Philip
II. ceded the country as a fief to his daughter
the Infanta Isabella (Clara Isabella Eugenia)
on her marriage with Albert, Archduke of
Austria, who held the provinces as the Spanish
governor. (Portraits of Albert and Isabella by
Rubens in the Brussels Gallery.) The new
rulers made the country feel to a certain extent
that it was no longer treated as a mere diso-
bedient Spanish appanage. After the troubles
of the Revolt, and the cruel destruction of Ant-
werp by Parma, trade and manufactures began
to revive. Albert and Isabella were strongly
Catholic in sentiment; and it was under their
regime that the greater part of the rococo
churches of Antwerp and other cities were
built, in the showy but debased taste of the
period, and decorated with large and brilliantly
coloured altar-pieces. They also induced
Rubens to settle in the Netherlands, appointed
him court painter, and allowed him to live at
Antwerp, where the trade of the Low Countries
was still largely concentrated. During their
History of the Belgian Towns 4 1
vice-royalty, however, Brussels became more
than ever the recognized capital of the country,
and the seat of the aristocracy.
After Albert's death in 1621, the Netherlands
reverted to Spain, and a dull period, without
either art or real local history, supervened,
though the wars of the seventeenth and eight-
eenth centuries were in great part fought out
over these unfortunate provinces, " the
cockpit of Europe." The campaigns of Marl-
borough and Prince Eugene are too well known
as part of English and European history to
need recapitulation here. At the end of the
War of the Spanish Succession, the Peace of
Rastadt, in 17 14, assigned the Spanish Nether-
lands to Austria, thus entailing upon the
unhappy country another hundred years of
foreign domination. Nevertheless, the Aus-
trian Netherlands, as they were thenceforth
called (in contradistinction to the " United
Netherlands " or Holland), were on the whole
tolerably well governed by the Austrian Stadt-
holders, who held their court at Brussels, and
who were usually relations of the Imperial
family. Few memorials, however, of Maria
Theresa, of Joseph IL, or of Leopold II. now
42 Belgium : Its Cities
exist in Belgium, and those few are not re-
markable for beauty. It was during this
relatively peaceful and law-abiding time, on
the other hand, that the Upper Town of
Brussels was laid out in its existing form by
Guimard. As a whole, the Belgian provinces
were probably better governed under Austrian
rule than under any other regime up to the
period of the existing independent and national
monarchy.
The French Revolutionists invaded Belgium
in 1794, and committed great havoc among
historical buildings at Bruges and elsewhere.
Indeed, they did more harm to the arts of the
Netherlands than anybody else, except the
Spaniards and the modern " restorers." They
also divided Belgium into nine departments;
and Napoleon half sneeringly, half cynically,
justified the annexation on the ground that the
Low Countries were the alluvial deposit of
French rivers. The Belgian States formed
part of Napoleon's composite empire till 18 14,
when those Southern Provinces were assigned
by the Treaty of London to Holland. In 181 5,
during the Hundred Days, the Allied Armies
History of the Belgian Towns 43
had their headquarters at Brussels, and the
decisive battle against Napoleon was fought
at Waterloo. The Congress of Vienna once
more affirmed the union of Belgium and Hol-
land; they remained as one kingdom till the
first revolutionary period in 1830. The South-
em Province then successfully seceded from
the Dutch monarchy : indeed, the attempted
fusion of semi-French and Catholic Belgium
v^ith purely Teutonic and Protestant Holland
was one of those foredoomed failures so dear
to diplomacy. A National Congress elected
Leopold of Saxe-Coburg as King of the Bel-
gians (Roi des Beiges), and the crown is now
held by his son, Leopold H. For nearly seventy
years Belgium has thus enjoyed, for the first
time in its history, an independent and relatively
popular government of its own choosing. The
development of its iron and coal industries dur-
ing this epoch has vastly increased its wealth
and importance; while the rise of Antwerp
as a great European port has also done much
to develop its resources. At the present day
Belgium ranks as one of the most thickly
populated, richest, and on the whole most
44 Belgium : Its Cities
liberal-minded countries of Europe. Its neu-
trality is assured by the Treaty of London, and
its army exists only to repel invasion in case
that neutrality should ever be violated.
CHAPTER III.
ORDER OF THE TOUR
IF possible, visit the cities of Belgium in the
order in which they are treated in this
guide : — Bruges first ; then Ghent, Brussels,
and Antwerp. For this order you will find
very good reasons. Bruges is the most antique
in tone and the least spoiled of all the Flemish
towns; it best exhibits the local peculiarities
we have here specially to consider ; and it leads
up naturally to the other cities. It is true, Mem-
ling, the great painter whom we have chiefly
to study at Bruges, is later in date than Jan
van Eyck, whose principal work (with that of
his brother Hubert) is to be seen at Ghent. But
historical sequence in this minor matter is
somewhat less important than a due apprehen-
sion of the general air of an old Flemish town
such as those in which the art of the Van Eycks
arose; and besides, there is at least one char-
45
46 Belgium : Its Cities
acteristic Van Eyck at Bruges, while there are
many Memlings for comparison in other cities.
As a rule, too little time is gpiven by tourists
to Bruges and Ghent, and too much to Brussels.
I should advise three or four days each to the
first-named towns, and a week to the capital.
Those who intend to combine a visit to Hol-
land in the same tour should certainly see
Belgium in the order here given first, and then
proceed to Rotterdam, The Hague, Haarlem,
and Amsterdam. For such a sequence, which
is geographically the easiest, is also chronolog-
ically natural. Bruges is the most mediaeval
of all the towns, and has for its principal great
artist Memling. Ghent comes next, with the
Van Eycks and a few later painters. Brussels
represents the end of the Middle Ages, and con-
tains a general metropolitan collection of early
and middle Flemish art. Antwerp gives us in
particular Quentin Matsys and his contem-
poraries, as well as Rubens and Van Dyck.
And the Dutch towns lead us on through Van
Dyck and the later transitionals to Rembrandt,
Van der Heist, Frans Hals, and the other
mighty masters of Holland. I may add that
as the arrangement of this Guide is roughly
Order of the Tour 47
chronological, the tourist will use it best if he
follows its order.
The Ostend route takes the towns naturally
in the sequence I suggest. Visitors arriving
by Harwich or Calais should not stop first at
Antwerp or Brussels, but go straight to Bruges,
and then double back again.
CHAPTER IV.
ORIGINS OF BRUGES
IN a lost comer of the great lowland flat of
Flanders, defended from the sea by an
artificial dyke, and at the point of intersection
of an intricate network of canals and water-
ways, there arose in the early Middle Ages a
trading town, known in Flemish as Brugge,
in French as Bruges (that is to say. The
Bridge), from a primitive structure that here
crossed the river. (A number of bridges now
span the sluggish streams. All of them open
in the middle to admit the passage of shipping.)
Bruges stood originally on a little river, the
Reye, once navigable, now swallowed by canals :
and the Reye flowed into the Zwin, long silted
up, but then the safest harbour in the Low
Countries. At first the capital of a petty count,
this landlocked internal harbour grew in time
to be the Venice of the North, and to gather
48
Origins of Bruges 49
round its quays, or at its haven of Damme, the
ships and merchandise of all neighbouring
peoples. Already in 1200 it ranked as the cen-
tral mart of the Hanseatic League. It was the
port of entry for English wool and Russian
furs : the port of departure for Flemish broad-
cloths, laces, tapestries, and linens. Canals
soon connected it with Ghent, Dunkirk, Sluys,
Furnes, and Ypres. Its nucleus lay in a little
knot of buildings about the Grand' Place and
the Hotel de Ville, stretching out to the
Cathedral and the Dyver; thence it spread on
all sides till in 1362 it filled the whole space
within the existing ramparts, now largely
abandoned or given over to fields and gardens.
It was the wealthiest town of Europe, outside
Italy. In the fourteenth century, Bruges
was frequently the residence of the Counts of
Flanders ; and in the fifteenth, it became the
seat of the brilliant court of the Dukes of
Burgundy. Under their rule, the opulent
burghers and foreign merchants began to em-
ploy a group of famous artists who have made
the city a place of pilgrimage for Europe and
America, and to adorn the town with most of
those buildings which now beautify its decay.
50 Belgium : Its Cities
The foreign traders in Bruges lived in
" factories " or guilds, resembling monasteries
or colleges, and were governed by their own
commercial laws. The Bardi of Florence were
among its famous merchants : the Medici had
agents here: so had the millionaire Fuggers
of Augsburg.
Bruges is the best place in which to make
a first acquaintance with the towns and art of
Flanders, because here almost all the principal
buildings are mediaeval, and comparatively
little that is modern comes in to mar the com-
pleteness of the picture. We see in it the archi-
tecture and the painting of Flanders, in the
midst of the houses, the land, and the folk that
gave them origin. Brussels is largely modern-
ized, and even Ghent has great living manu-
factures ; but Bruges is a fossil of the fifteenth
century. It was the first to flourish and the
first to decay of the towns of Belgium.
The decline of the town was due partly to
the break-up of the Hanseatic system ; partly to
the rise of English ports and manufacturing
towns; but still more (and especially as com-
pared with other Flemish cities) to the silting
of the Zwin, and the want of adaptation in its
Origins of Bruges 51
waterways to the needs of great ships and
modern navigation. The old sea entrance to
Bruges was through the Zwin, by way of Sluys
and Kadzand ; up that channel came the Vene-
tian merchant fleet and the Flemish galleys,
to the port of Damme. By 1470, it ceased to
be navigable for large vessels. The later canal
is still open, but as it passes through what is
now Dutch territory, it is little used; nor is it
adapted to any save ships of comparatively
small burden. Another canal, suitable for craft
of five hundred tons, leads through Belgian
territory to Ostend ; but few vessels now navi-
gate it, and those for the most part only for
local trade. The town has shrunk to half its
former size, and has only a quarter of its
mediaeval population. The commercial decay
of Bruges, however, has preserved its charm
for the artist, the archaeologist, and the tourist ;
its sleepy streets and unfrequented quays are
among the most picturesque sights of bustling
and industrial modern Belgium. The great
private palaces, indeed, are almost all des-
troyed • many public buildings remain, and the
domestic architecture is quaint and pretty.
Bruges was the mother of the arts in Flan-
52 Belgium : Its Cities
ders. Jan van Eyck lived here from 1428 to
1440: Memling, probably, from 1477 till 1494.
Caxton, the first English printer, lived as a
merchant at Bruges (in the Domus Anglorum
or English factory) from 1446 to 1476, and
probably put in the press here the earliest
English printed book (though strong grounds
have been adduced in favour of Cologne).
Colard Mansion, the great printer of Bruges
at that date, was one of the leaders in the art
of typography.
Those who desire further information on this
most interesting town will find it in James
Weale's " Bruges et ses Environs," an admira-
ble work, to which I desire to acknowledge my
obligations.
At least two whole days should be devoted
to Bruges : more if possible. But the hasty
traveller, who has but time for a glimpse,
should neglect the churches, and walk round the
Grand' Place and the Place du Bourg to the
Dyver: spending most of his time at the
** Hopital de St. Jean, which contains the
glorious works of Memling. These are by far
the most important objects to be seen in the
city. The description in this Guide is written
Origins of Bruges 53
from the point of view of the more leisurely
traveller.
Expect the frequent recurrence of the fol-
lowing symbols on houses or pictures : First,
the Lion of Flanders, heraldic or otherwise,
crowned, and bearing a collar with a pendant
cross, secondly the Bear of Bruges, thirdly
the Golden Fleece {Toison d'or), the device
of the Order founded by Philippe le Bon in
1430, and appropriate to a country which owed
its wealth to wool ; it consists of a sheep's skin
suspended from a collar. The Flemish emblem
of the Swan is also common as a relief or deco-
ration.
St. Donatian, Archbishop of Rheims, is the
patron saint. His mark is a wheel with five
lighted candles.
CHAPTER V.
THE HEART OF BRUGES
THE original nucleus of Bruges is formed
by the Bourg, which stands near the
centre of the modern city. In 865, Baldwin
Bras-de-Fer, Count of Flanders, built a
chateau or burg by the Reye, in a comer of land
still marked by the modern canal of the Dyver,
and near it a chapel, into which he transported
the relics of St, Donatian. This burg grew
in time into the chief palace of the Counts of
Flanders, now replaced by the Palais de
Justice; while the chapel by its side developed
into the first cathedral of Bruges, St. Dona-
tian, now wholly demolished. A bridge hard
by crossed the little river Reye; and from this
bridge the town ultimately derives its name.
The burg was built as a tete-du-pont to protect
the passage. A town of traders gradually
sprang up under the protection of the castle,
54
THE BELFRY AND GRAND' PLACE, BRUGES.
The Heart of Bruges 55
and developed at last into the great trading
port of Bruges. To this centre, then, we will
first direct ourselves.
Go from your hotel, down the Rue St.
Amand, or the Rue St. Jacques, to the Grand'
Place or market-place of Bruges, noticing cm
your way the numerous handsome old houses,
with high-pitched roofs and gable-ends ar-
ranged like steps, mostly of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. (Bruges is a Flemish-
speaking town : note the true names of the
streets in Flemish.)
The very tall square tower which faces you
as you enter the Grand' Place is the * Belfry,
the centre and visible embodiment of the town
of Bruges. The Grand' Place itself was the
forum and meeting-place of the soldier-citi-
zens, who were called to arms by the chimes
in the Belfry. The centre of the Place is there-
fore appropriately occupied by a colossal
statue group (modern) of Pieter de Coninck
and Jan Breidel, the leaders of the citizens of
Bruges at the Battle of the Spurs before the
walls of Courtrai in 1302, a conflict which
secured the freedom of Flanders from the in-
terference of the Kings of France. The group
56 Belgium : Its Cities
is by Devigne. The reliefs on the pedestal
represent scenes from the battle and its ante-
cedents.
The majestic Belfry itself represents the first
beginnings of freedom in Bruges. Leave to
erect such a bell -tower, both as a mark of
independence and to summon the citizens to
arms, was one of the first privileges which
every Teutonic trading town desired to wring
from its feudal lord. This brick tower, the
pledge of municipal rights, was beg^n in 1291,
to replace an earlier one of wood, and finished
about a hundred years later, the octagon, in
stone, at the summit, which holds the bells,
having been erected in 1393 — 96. It consists
of three stories, the two lower of which are
square and flanked by balconies with turrets;
the windows below are of the simple Early
Gothic style, but show a later type of archi-
tecture in the octagon. The niche in the centre
contains the Virgin and Child (restored, after
being destroyed by the French revolutionists).
Below it on either side are smaller figures
holding escutcheons. From the balcony be-
tween these last, the laws and the rescripts of
The Heart of Bruges 57
the counts were read aloud to the people
assembled in the square.
The Belfry can be ascended by steps. Apply
to the concierge; twenty-five centimes per
person. Owing to the force of the wind, it
leans slightly to the southeast. The * view
from the top is very extensive and striking;
it embraces the greater part of the Plain of
Flanders, with its towns and villages : the
country, though quite flat, looks beautiful when
thus seen. In early times, however, the look-
out from the summit was of practical use for
purposes of observation, military or maritime.
It commanded the river, the Zwin, and the sea
approach by Sluys and Damme; the course
of the various canals ; and the roads to Ghent,
Antwerp, Tournay, and Courtrai. The Belfry
contains a famous set of chimes, the mechanism
of which may be inspected by the visitor. He
will have frequent opportunities of hearing
the beautiful and mellow carillon, perhaps to
excess. The existing bells date only from 1680 :
the mechanism from 1784.
The square building on either side of the
Belfry, known as Les Halles, was erected in
or about 1248, and is a fine but sombre speci-
58 Belgium : Its Cities
men of Early Gothic civic architecture. The
wing to the left was originally the Cloth Hall,
for the display and sale of the woollen manu-
factures of Ghent and Bruges. It is now used
as municipal offices. The wing to the right
is the meat market. Inside the court, a door
to the left gives access to a small Museum of
Antiquities on the ground floor, which may be
safely neglected by all save specialist archaeolo-
gists. (Admission, fifty centimes.)
Now, stand with your back to the Belfry to
survey the square. The brick building on your
right is the Post Office (modern) ; the stone
one beyond it (also modern) is the Palace of
the Provincial Government of Flanders. Both
have been erected in a style suitable to the
town. In the Middle Ages, ships could come
up to this part of the Grand' Place to discharge
their cargo. The quaint houses that face you,
with high-pitched gable-ends, are partly mod-
ern, but mostly old, though restored. To the
west, on the left side of the Place, at the corner
of the Rue St. Amand, stands the square castle-
like building known as Au Lion de Flandre and
marked by its gold lion. It is one of the best
brick mediaeval buildings in Bruges. According
■tMtir^^i
■i^^gsit
X'^s^
4r?MB'
HjpStSISiSBl'lB
i
■i
The Heart of Bruges 59
to a doubtful tradition, it was occupied by-
Charles 11. of England during his exile, when
he was created by the Brugeois King of the
Crossbowmen of St. Sebastian (see later). In
the house beside it, known as the Craenenburg,
the citizens of Bruges imprisoned Maximilian,
King of the Romans, from the 5th to the 17th
of February, 1488, because he would not grant
the care of his son Philip, heir to the crown
of the Netherlands, to the King of France.
They only released him after he had sworn
before an altar erected at the spot, on the Host,
the true Cross, and the Relics of St. Donatian,
to renounce his claim to the guardianship of
his son, and to grant a general amnesty.
However, he was treacherously released from
his oath by a congress of princes convened a
little later by his father, the Emperor Fred-
eric IV.
From the corner of the Post OfiEice, take the
short Rue Breydel to the Place du Bourg, the
still more intimate centre and focus of the early
life in Bruges. This Place contained the old
Palace of the Counts of Flanders, and the orig-
inal Cathedral, both now destroyed, as well
6o Belgium : Its Cities
as the Town Hall and other important buildings
still preserved for us.
The tallest of the three handsome edifices
on the south side of the Square (profusely
adorned with sculpture) is the ** Hotel de
Ville, a beautiful gem of Middle Gothic archi-
tecture, begun about 1376, and finished about
1387. This is one of the finest pieces of civic
architecture in Belgium. The fagade, though
overrestored, and the six beautiful turrets and
chimneys, are in the main of the original de-
sign. The sculpture in the niches, destroyed
during the French Revolution, has been only
tolerably replaced by modem Belgian sculptors
in our own day. The lower tier contains the
Annunciation, right and left of the doorway,
with figures of various saints and prophets.
In the tiers above this are statues of the Counts
of Flanders of various ages. The reliefs just
below the windows of the first floor represent
episodes from Biblical history : — David before
Saul, David dancing before the Ark^ the Judg-
ment of Solomon, the Building of Solomon's
Temple, and other scenes which the visitor can
easily identify. The Great Hall in the interior
CHAPELLK DU SAINT SANG, BRUGES.
The Heart of Bruges 6 1
is interesting only for its fine pendant Gothic
wooden roof.
The somewhat lower building, to the right
of the Hotel de Ville, is the ** Chapelle du
Saint Sang. The decorated portal round the
corner also forms part of the same building.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (age
of the Crusades) the chivalrous and credulous
knights of the North and West, who repaired
to the Holy Land, whether as pilgrims or as
soldiers of the Faith, were anxious to bring
back with them relics of the saints or of still
more holy personages. The astute Greeks and
Syrians with whom they had to deal rose to
the occasion, and sold the simple Westerns
various sacred objects of more or less doubtful
authenticity at fabulous prices. Over these
treasured deposits stately churches were often
raised ; for example, St. Louis of France con-
structed the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, to contain
the Crown of Thorns and part of the True
Cross, which he had purchased at an immense
cost from Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople.
Among the earlier visitors to the Holy Land
who thus signalized their journey was Theo-
doric of Alsace, elected Count of Flanders in
62 Belgium : Its Cities
1 1 28; he brought back with him in 11 49 some
drops of the Holy Blood of the Saviour, said
to have been preserved by Joseph of Arima-
thea, which he presented to his faithful city
of Bruges. Fitly to enshrine them, Theodoric
erected a chapel in the succeeding year, 11 50;
and this early church forms the lower floor
of the existing building. Above it, in the
fifteenth century, when Bruges grew richer,
was raised a second and more gorgeous chapel
(as at the Sainte Chapelle), in which the holy
relic is now preserved. Almost all the works
of art in the dainty little oratory accordingly
bear special reference to the Holy Blood, its
preservation, and its transport to Bruges. The
dedication is to St. Basil, the founder of Eastern
monasticism — a Greek father little known in
the West, whose fame Theodoric must have
learned in Syria. The nobles of Flanders, it
must be remembered, were particularly active
in organizing the Crusades.
The exterior has a fine figure of St. Leonard
(holding the fetters which are his symbol)
under a Gothic niche. He was the patron of
Christian slaves held in duress by the Sara-
cens. The beautiful flamboyant portal and
The Heart of Bruges 63
staircase, round the corner, erected in 1529 —
1533, in the ornate decorative style of the
period, have (restored) figures of Crusaders
and their queens in niches, with incongruous
Renaissance busts below.
To visit the interior, ring the bell in the
corner : admission, fifty centimes per person.
The Museum of the Brotherhood of the
Holy Blood, on the first floor, which we first
visit, contains by the left wall the handsome
silver-gilt Reliquary (of 161 7), studded with
jewels, which encloses the drops of the Holy
Blood. The figures on it represent Christ,
the source of the Blood, the Blessed Virgin,
St. Basil, patron of the church, and St. Dona-
tian, patron of the town. The Blood is ex-
hibited in a simpler shrine in the chapel every
Friday ; that is to say, on the day of the Cru-
cifixion. The great Reliquary itself is carried
in procession only, on the Monday after the
third of May. Right and left of the shrine
are portraits of the members of the Confra-
ternity of the Holy Blood by P. Pourbus,
1556: unusually good works of this painter.
A triptych to the right, by an unknown master
of the early sixteenth century, figures the
64 Belgium : Its Cities
Crucifixion, with special reference to the Holy
Blood, representing St. Longinus in the act
of piercing the side of Christ (thus drawing
the Blood), with the Holy Women and St.
John in attendance; on the wings, the Way
to Calvary, and the Resurrection.
Between the windows is a curious chrono-
logical picture of the late fifteenth century,
representing the History of Our Lady in the
usual stages, with other episodes. To the
right of it, a painting of the fifteenth century
shows Count Theodoric receiving the Holy
Blood from his brother-in-law, Baldwin, King
of Jerusalem, and the bringing of the Holy
Blood to Bruges.
On the right wall there is a famous * trip-
tych by Gerard David (the finest work here),
representing the Deposition in the Tomb,
with the Maries, St. John, Nicodemus, and
an attendant holding a dish to contain the
Holy Blood, which is also seen conspicuously
flowing from the wounds ; the left wing shows
the Magdalen with Cleophas; the right wing,
the preservation of the Crown of Thorns by
Joseph of Arimathea. The portrait character
The Heart of Bruges 65
of the faces is admirable: stand long and
study this fine work.
The original designs for the windows of
the Chapel are preserved in a glass case by
the window; behind which are fragments of
early coloured glass ; conspicuous among them,
St. Barbara with her tower.
On the exit wall is a fine piece of late Flem-
ish tapestry, representing the bringing of the
body of St. Augustine to Pavia, with side
figures of San Frediano of Lucca and Sant'
Ercolano of Perugia — executed, no doubt,
for an Italian patron.
The Chapel itself, which we next enter, is
gorgeously decorated in polychrome, recently
restored. The stained glass windows, contain-
ing portraits of the Burgundian princes from
the beginning of the dynasty down to Maria
Theresa and Francis I., were executed in 1845
from earlier designs. The large window fac-
ing the High Altar is modern. It represents
appropriately the history of the Passion, the
origin of the Sacred Blood, its Transference
to Bruges, and the figures of the Flemish Cru-
saders engaged in its transport. At the summit
of the windowj notice the frequent and fitting
66 Belgium : Its Cities
symbol of the pelican feeding its young with
its own blood.
In the little side chapel to the right, separated
from the main building by an arcade of three
arches, is the tabernacle or canopy from which
the Sacred Blood is exhibited weekly. Notice
on the steps the angels holding the Crown of
Thorns. The window to the left (modern)
represents St. Longinus, the centurion who
pierced the side of Christ, and St. Veronica,
displaying her napkin which she gave to the
Saviour to wipe his face on the way to Cal-
vary, and which retained ever after the im-
press of the Divine Countenance. Almost all
the other objects in the chapel bear reference,
more or less direct, to the Holy Blood. Ob-
serve particularly in the main chapel the hand-
some modern High Altar with its coloured
reliefs of scenes of the Passion and its Crown
of Thorns conspicuously displayed. Such
scenes as the Paschal Lamb on its base, with
the Hebrew smearing the lintel of the door,
are of course symbolical.
The Lower Chapel, to which we are next
conducted, is a fine specimen of late Roman-
esque architecture, now in course of restora-
The Heart of Bruges 67
tion. It was built by Theodoric in 11 50. Its
solid short pillars and round arches contrast ,
with the lighter and later Gothic of the upper
building. Notice as you pass out, from the
Place outside, the two beautiful turrets at the
west end of the main chapel.
To the left of the Hotel de Ville stands the
ornate and much gilded Renaissance building,
known as the *Maison de I'Ancien Greffe, orig-
inally the municipal record office^ but now em-
ployed as a police-court. It bears the date
1537, and has been recently restored and pro-
fusely covered with gold decoration. Over
the main doorway is the Lion of Flanders;
on the architrave of the first floor are heads
of counts and countesses; and the building
is surmounted by a figure of Justice, with
Moses and Aaron and emblematical statues.
Note the Golden Fleece and other symbols.
The interior is uninteresting.
The eastern side of the square is formed by
the Palais de Justice, which stands on the site
of an old palace of the Counts of Flanders,
presented by Philippe le Beau to the Liberty
of Bruges, and employed by them as their
town hall of the Buitenpoorters, or inhab-
68 Belgium : Its Cities
itants of the district outside the gate, known
as the Franc de Bruges. The Renaissance
building, erected between 1520 and 1608, was
burnt down and replaced in the eighteenth
century by the very uninteresting existing
building. Parts of the old palace, however,
were preserved^ one room in which should be
visited for the sake of its magnificent * * chim-
ne}^piece. In order to see it, enter the quad-
rangle: the porter's room faces you as you
enter; inquire there for the key; admission,
fifty centimes per person. The concierge con-
ducts you to the court-room, belonging to the
original building. Almost the entire side of
the room is occupied by a splendid Renais-
sance chimneypiece, executed in 1529, after
designs by Lancelot Blondeel of Bruges (a
painter whose works are frequent in the town),
and Guyot de Beaugrant of Malines, for the
Council of the Liberty of Bruges, in honour
of Charles V., as a memorial of the Treaty
of Cambrai, in 1526. This was the treaty
concluded after the battle of Pavia, by which
Francis the First of France was compelled to
acknowledge the independence of Flanders.
Some of the figures in the background are
The Heart of Bruges 69
allusive to the victory. The lower part, or
chimneypiece proper, is of black marble. The
upper portion is of carved oak. The marble
part has four bas-reliefs in white alabaster, by
Guyot de Beaug-rant, representing the History
of Susannah, a mere excuse for the nude : the
first, Susannah and the Elders at the Bath;
the second, Susannah dragged by the Elders
before the Judge; the third, Daniel before the
Judge exculpating Susannah; the fourth. The
Stoning of the Elders. The genii at the cor-
ners are also by Beaugrant. The whole is in
the pagan taste of the Renaissance. The upper
portion in oak contains in the centre a statue
of Charles V., represented in his capacity as
Count of Flanders (as shown by the arms on
his cuirass) : the other figures represent his
descent and the cumulation of sovereignties
in his person. On the throne behind Charles
(ill seen) are busts of Philippe le Beau, his
father, through whom he inherited the Bur-
gundian dominions^ and Johanna (the Mad)
of Spain, his mother, through whom he in-
herited the united Peninsula. The statues on
the left and right are those of his actual royal
predecessors. The figures to the left are his
yo Belgium : Its Cities
paternal grandfather, the Emperor Maxi-
miUan, from whom he derived his German
territories, and his paternal grandmother,
* Mary of Burgundy, who brought into the
family Flanders, Burgundy, etc. Mary is
represented with a hawk on her wrist, as she
was killed at twenty-five by a fall from her
horse while out hawking. (We shall see her
tomb later at Notre-Dame.) The figures on
the right are those of Ferdinand of Aragon
and Isabella of Castile, the maternal grand-
father and grandmother of Charles, from
whom he inherited the two portions of his
Spanish dominions. The medallions at the
back represent the personages most concerned
in the Treaty of Cambrai, and the Victory of
Pavia which rendered it possible, — De Lan-
noy, the conqueror, to whom Francis gave up
his sword, and Margaret of Austria. The tap-
estry which surrounds the hall is modern; it
was manufactured at Ingelmiinster after the
pattern of a few old fragments found in the
cellars of the ancient building. The medi-
ocre painting on the wall depicts a sitting of
the court of the Liberty of Bruges in this room
(1659).
The Heart of Bruges 71
The northern side of the square is now oc-
cupied by a small Place planted with trees.
Originally, however, the old cathedral of
Bruges occupied this site. It was dedicated
to St. Donatian, the patron of the city, whose
relics were preserved in it; but it was bar-
barously destroyed by the French Revolution-
ary army in 1799, and the works of art which
it contained were dispersed or ruined. Fig-
ures of St. Donatian occur accordingly in many
paintings at Bruges. Jan van Eyck was buried
in this cathedral, and a statue has been erected
to him under the trees in the little Place. In
order, therefore, mentally to complete the pic-
ture of the Place dtt Bourg in the sixteenth
century, we must imagine not only the Hotel
de Ville, the Chapelle du Saint Sang, and the
Ancien Greffe in something approaching their
existing condition, but also the stately cathe-
dral and the original Renaissance building of
the Franc de Bruges filling in the remainder.
An archway spans the space between the
Ancien Grefife and the Hotel de Ville. Take
the narrow street which dives beneath it, look-
ing back as you pass at the archway with its
inscription of S. P. Q. B. (for Senatus Popu-
72 Belgium : Its Cities
lusque Brugensis). The street then leads
across a bridge over the river Reye or prin-
cipal canal, and affords a good view of the
back of the earlier portion of the Palais de
Justice, with its picturesque brick turrets, and
a few early arches belonging to the primitive
palace. I recommend the visitor to turn to the
right after crossing the bridge, traverse the
little square, and make his way home by the
bank of the Dyver and the Church of Notre-
Dame. The view toward the Hotel de Ville
and the Belfry, from the part of the Dyver
a little to the east behind the Belfry, is one
of the most picturesque and striking in Bruges.
CHAPTER VI.
THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN
THE Hospital of St. John, one of the most
ancient institutions in Bruges, or of its
kind in Europe, was founded not later than
1 1 88, and still retains, within and without,
its mediaeval arrangement. Its Augustinian
brothers and nuns tend the sick in the primitive
building, now largely added to. It derives its
chief interest for the tourist, however, from
its small Picture Gallery, the one object in
Bruges which must above everything else be
visited. This is the only place for studying
in full the exquisite art of Memling, whose
charming and poetical work is here more fully
represented than elsewhere. In this respect the
Hospital of St. John may be fitly compared
with the two other famous " one-man shows "
of Europe — the Fra Angelicos at San Marco
in Florence, and the Giottos in the Madonna
73
74 Belgium : Its Cities
deir Arena at Padua. Many of the pictures
were painted for the institution which they still
adorn; so that we have here the opportunity
of seeing works of mediaeval art in the precise
surroundings which first produced them.
Hans Memling, whose name is also written
Memlinc and Memlin, etc. (long erroneously
cited as Hemling^ through a mistaken reading
of the initial in his signature) is a painter of
whom little is known, save his work ; but the
work is the man, and therefore amply sufficient.
He was born about 1430, perhaps in Germany,
and is believed to have been a pupil of Roger
van der Weyden, the Brussels painter, whose
work we shall see later at Antwerp and else-
where. Mr. Weale has shown that he is a per-
son of some wealth, settled at Bruges in his own
house (about 1478), and in a position to lend
money to the town. He died in 1495. His
period of activity as a painter is thus coincident
with the earlier work of Carpaccio and Peru-
gino in Italy ; he died while Raphael was still a
boy. In relation to the artists of his own
country, whose works we have still to see.
Memling was junior by more than a generation
to Jan van Eyck, having been born about ten
The Hospital of St. John 75
years before Van Eyck died; he was also
younger by thirty years than Roger van der
Weyden; and by twenty or thirty years than
Dierick Bouts; but older by at least twenty
than Gerard David. Memling has been called
the Fra Angelico of Flanders ; but this is only
true so far as regards Fra Angelico's panel
works; the saintly Frate, when he worked in
fresco, adopted a style wholly different from
that which he displays in his miniature-like
altar-pieces. It would be truer to say that
Memling is the Benozzo Gozzoli of the North :
he has the same love of decorative adjuncts,
and the same naive delight in the beauty of
external nature.
Before visiting the Hospital it is also well
to be acquainted in outline with the history of
St. Ursula, whose shrine forms one of its
greatest treasures. The Hospital possessed an
important relic of the saint — her holy arm —
and about 1480 — 1489 commissioned Memling
to paint scenes from her life on the shrine des-
tined to contain this precious deposit. The
chest or reliquary which he adorned for the
purpose forms the very best work of Memling's
lifetime.
76 Belgium : Its Cities
St. Ursula was a princess of Brittany,
brought up as a Christian by her pious parents.
She was sought in marriage by a pagan prince,
Conon, said to be the son of a king of England.
The EngHsh king, called Agrippinus in the
legend, sent ambassadors to the King of Brit-
tany asking for the hand of Ursula for his
heir. But Ursula made three conditions:
first, that she should be given as companions
ten noble virgins, and that she herself and each
of the virgins should be accompanied by a
thousand maiden attendants ; second, that they
should all together visit the shrines of the
saints; and third, that the Prince Conon and all
his court should receive baptism. These condi-
tions were complied with ; the King of England
collected eleven thousand virgins ; and Ursula,
with her companions, sailed for Cologne, where
she arrived miraculously without the assistance
of sailors. Memling, however, adds them to
the painting. Here, she had a vision of an
angel bidding her to repair to Rome, the
threshold of the apostles. From Cologne, the
pilgrims went up the Rhine by boat, till they
arrived at Basle, where they disembarked and
continued their journey on foot over the Alps
The Hospital of St. John 77
to Italy. At length they reached the Tiber,
which they descended till they approached the
walls of Rome. There, the Pope, St. Cyriacus,
went forth with all his clergy in procession to
meet them. He gave them his blessing, and
lest the maidens should come to harm in so
wicked a city, he had tents pitched for them
outside the walls on the side toward Tivoli.
Meanwhile, Prince Conon had come on pil-
grimage by a different route, and arrived at
Rome on the same day as his betrothed. He
knelt with Ursula at the feet of the Pope, and,
being baptized, received in exchange the name
of Ethereus.
After a certain time spent in Rome, the holy
maidens bethought them to return home again.
Thereupon, Pope Cyriacus decided to accom-
pany them, together with his cardinals, arch-
bishops, bishops, patriarchs, and many others
of his prelates. They crossed the Alps, em-
barked again at Basle, and made their way
northward as far as Cologne. Now it happened
that the army of the Huns was at that time
besieging the Roman colony; and the pagans
fell upon the eleven thousand virgins, with the
Pope and their other saintly companions.
78 Belgium : Its Cities
Prince Ethereiis was one of the first to die;
then Cyriacus, the bishops, and the cardinals
perished. Last of all, the pagans turned upon
the virgins, all of whom they slew, save only
St. Ursula. Her they carried before their king,
who, beholding her beauty, would fain have
wedded her. But Ursula sternly refused the
offer of this son of Satan ; whereupon the king,
seizing his bow, transfixed her breast with three
arrows. Hence her symbol is an arrow ; also,
she is the patroness of young girls and of vir-
gins, so that her shrine is particularly appro-
priate in a nunnery.
Most of the bones of St. Ursula and her
eleven thousand virgins are preserved at
Cologne, the city of her martyrdom, where they
are ranged in cases round the walls of a church
dedicated in her honour; but her arm is here,
and a few other relics are distributed elsewhere.
The Hospital is open daily from nine to six ;
Sundays, three to six. One franc per person.
If you have Conway, take it with you.
From the Grand' Place, turn down the Rue
des Pierres, the principal shopping street of
Bruges, with several fine old facades, many of
them dated. At the Place Simon Stevin turn
HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN, BRUGES.
The Hospital of St. John 79
to the left, and go straight on as far as the
church of Notre Dame. The long brick build-
ing with Gothic arches, on your right, is the
** Hospital of St. John, the Evangelist.
First, examine the brick Gothic exterior.
Over the outer doorway is the figure of a
bishop with a flaming heart, the emblem of St.
Augustine, this being an Augustinian hospital.
Continue on to the original main portal (now
bricked up) with a broken pillar and two thir-
teenth century reliefs in the tympanum. That
to the right represents the Death of the Virgin,
with the Apostles grouped around, and the fig-
ure of the Christ receiving her naked new-bom
soul as usual. Above is the Coronation of Our
Lady. That to the left seems like a reversed
and altered replica of the same subject, with
perhaps the Last Judgment above it. It is,
however, so much dilapidated that identification
is difficult. Perhaps the top is a Glory of St.
Ursula. Go on as far as the little bridge over
the canal, to inspect the picturesque river front
of the Hospital.
Return to the main portal and ring the inner
bell. Admission, see above. The pictures are
collected in the former Chapter-house of the
8o Belgium : Its Cities
Hospital, above the door of which is another
figure of St. Augustine.
The centre of the room is occupied by the
famous ** shrine containing the arm of St.
Ursula, a dainty little Gothic chapel in minia-
ture. It is painted with exquisite scenes from
the legend, by Memling, with all the charm of
a fairy tale. He treats it as a poetical romance.
Begin the story on the side toward the window.
(For a penetrating criticism of these works, see
Conway. )
In the first panel, on the left, St. Ursula and
her maidens, in the rich dress of the Burgun-
dian court of the fifteenth century, arrive at
Cologne, the buildings of which are seen in the
background, correctly represented, but not in
their true relations. In a window in the back-
ground to the right, the angel appears to St.
Ursula in a vision.
In the second panel, the virgins arrive at
Basle and disembark from the ships. In the
background, they are seen preparing to make
their way, one by one, across the Alps, which
rise from low hills at the base to snowy moun-
tains. From another ship Conon and his
knights are disembarking.
MEMLING. — SHRINE OF ST. URSULA.
The Hospital of St. John 8 1
In the third and most beautiful panel, the
maidens arrive at Rome. In the distance they
are seen entering the city through a triumphal
arch; in the foreground, St. Ursula kneels
before St. Cyriacus and his bishops, with their
attendant deacons, all the faces having the
character of portraits. Note especially the fat
and jolly ecclesiastic just under the arch.
At the same time, her betrothed, Conon, with
his knights, arrives at Rome by a different road,
and is seen kneeling in a red robe trimmed with
rich fur beside St. Ursula. Note the fine por-
trait faces of Conon and an old courtier behind
him. The Pope and his priests are gathered
under the portals of a beautiful round-arched
building, whose exquisite architecture should
be closely examined. To the extreme right
the new converts and Conon receive baptism
naked in fonts after the early fashion. In the
background of this scene, St. Ursula receives
the Sacrament. She may be recognized
throughout by her peculiar blue-and-white
dress, with its open sleeves. To the left of her,
Conon makes confession. In this, as in the
other scenes, several successive moments of the
82 Belgium : Its Cities
same episode are contemporaneously repre-
sented. Look long at it.
Now, turn round the shrine, which swings
freely on a pivot, to see the scenes of the return
journey, beginning again at the left. In the
first panel, the Pope and his bishops and car-
dinals embark with St. Ursula in the boat at
Basle on their way to Cologne. Three episodes
are here conjoined : the Pope cautiously step-
ping into a ship; the Pope seated; the ship
sailing down the Rhine. All the faces here,
and especially the timid old Pope stepping into
the boat, deserve careful examination. In the
background, the return over the Alps.
In the * second panel, the maidens and the
Pope arrive at Cologne, where they are in-
stantly set upon by the armed Huns. Conon
is slain by the thrust of a sword, and falls
back dying in the arms of St. Ursula. Many
of the maidens are also slaughtered.
The * third panel is continuous with the last,
but represents a subsequent moment: the
Martyrdom of St. Ursula. The King of the
Huns, in full armour, at the door of his tent,
bends his bow to shoot the blessed martyr, who
has refused his advances. Around are grouped
The Hospital of St. John 83
his knig-hts in admirably painted armour.
(Note the reflections.) All the scenes have
the character of a mediaeval romance. For their
open-air tone and make-beHeve martyrdom,
see Conway.
At the ends of the shrine are two other
pictures. The first is^ * St. Ursula with her
arrow, as the protectress of young girls, shel-
tering a number of them under her cloak (not,
as is commonly said, the eleven thousand vir-
gins). Similar protecting figures of the saint
are common elsewhere (Cluny, Bologna, etc.).
At the opposite end is the second, — the Ma-
donna and Child with the apple, and at her
feet two Augustinian nuns of this Hospital,
kneeling, to represent the devotion of the order.
The roof of the shrine is also decorated with
pictures. First, St. Ursula receiving the crown
of martyrdom from God the Father, with the
Son and the Holy Ghost; at the sides, two
angels playing the mandoline and the regal or
portable organ ; second, St Ursula in Paradise,
bearing her arrow, and surrounded by her
maidens, who shared her martyrdom, together
with the Pope and other ecclesiastics in the
background. This picture is largely borrowed
84 Belgium : Its Cities
from the famous one by Stephan Lochner on
the High Ahar of Cologne Cathedral, known
as the Dombild. If you are going on to
Cologne, buy a photograph of this now, to com-
pare with Meister Stephan later. His altar-
piece is engraved in Conway, If you have it
with you compare them. At the sides are two
angels, drawn possibly by a pupil, playing the
zither and the violin.
I have given a brief description only of these
pictures, but every one of them ought to be
carefully examined, and the character of the
figures and of the landscape or architectural
background noted. You will see nothing love-
lier in all Flanders.
Near the window by the entrance is a
** Triptych, also by Memling, commissioned
by Brother Jan Floreins of this Hospital. The
central panel represents the Adoration of the
Magi, which takes place, as usual, under a
ruined temple fitted up as a manger. The
Eldest of the Three Kings, according to prec-
edent, is kneeling and has presented his gift;
Joseph, recognizable in all three panels by his
red-and-black robe, stands erect behind him,
with the presented gift in his hands. The
The Hospital of St. John 85
Middle-aged King, arrayed in cloth of gold,
with a white tippet, kneels with his gift to the
left of the picture. The Young King, a black
man, as always, is entering with his gift to the
right. The three thus typify the Three Ages
of Man, and also the three known continents,
Europe, Asia, Africa. On the left side of this
central panel are figured the donor, Jan
Floreins, and his brother Jacob. (Members
of the same family are grouped in the well-
known " Duchatel Madonna," also by Mem-
ling, in the Louvre.) To the right is a figure
looking in at a window and wearing the yellow
cap still used by convalescents of the Hospital
(arbitrarily said to be a portrait of Memling).
The left p^nel represents the Nativity, with
our Lady, St. Joseph, and two adoring angels.
The right panel shows the Presentation in the
Temple, with Simeon and Anna, and St. Joseph
(in red and black) in the background. The
whole thus typifies the Epiphany of Christ;
left, to the Blessed Virgin ; centre, to the Gen-
tiles; right, to the Jews. The outer panels,
in pursuance of the same idea, have figures,
right, of St. John the Baptist with the lamb
(he pointed out Christ to the Jews), with the
86 Belgium : Its Cities
Baptism of Christ in the background; and
left, St. Veronica, who preserved for us the
features of our Lord, displaying his divine face
on her napkin. The architectural frame shows
the First Sin and the Expulsion from Para-
dise. Note everywhei^e the strong character
in the men's faces, and the exquisite landscape
or architectural backgrounds. Dated 1479.
This is Memling's finest altar-piece: its glow
of colour is glorious.
By the centre window, a * triptych, doubt-
fully attributed to Memling, represents, in the
centre, the Deposition from the Cross, with
the Holy Blood conspicuous, as might be ex-
pected in a Bruges work. In the foreground
are St. John, the Madonna, and St. Mary
Magdalene; in the background, the prepara-
tions from the Deposition in the Tomb. On the
wings : left. Brother Adrian Reins, the donor,
with his patron saint, Adrian, bearing his
symbol, the anvil, on which his limbs were
struck off, and with his lion at his feet ; right,
St. Barbara with her tower^ perhaps as patron-
ess of armourers. On the exterior wings, left,
St. Wilgefortis with her tau-shaped cross;
MEMLING. MARTIN VAN NIEUWENHOVEN.
The Hospital of St. John 87
right, St. Mary of Egypt, with the three loaves
which sustained her in the desert.
On the same stand is the beautiful * diptych
by Memling, representing Martin van Nieu-
wenhoven adoring the Madonna. The left
panel represents Our Lady and the Child, with
an apple, poised on a beautifully painted
cushion. A convex mirror in the background
reflects the backs of the figures, as in the Van
Eyck of the National Gallery. Through the
open window is seen a charming distant
prospect. The right panel has the fine portrait
of the donor, in a velvet dress painted with
extreme realism. Note the admirable prayer-
book and joined hands. At his back, a stained
glass window shows his patron, St. Martin,
dividing his cloak for the beggar. Below, a
lovely glimpse of landscape. This is probably
Memling's most successful portrait. Dated
1487 : brought here from the Hospice of St.
Julian, of which Martin was Master.
In all Flemish art, observe now the wooden
face of the Madonna — ultimately derived, I
believe, from imitation of painted wooden
figures, and then hardened into a type. As a
rule, the Madonna is the least interesting part
88 Belgium : Its Cities
of all Flemish painting; and after her, the
women, especially the young ones. The men's
faces are best, and better when old : character,
not beauty, is what the painter cares for.
This is most noticeable in Van Eyck, but is
true in part even of Memling.
At the end of the room is the magnificent
* triptych painted by Memling for the High
Altar of the Church of this Hospital. This is
the largest of his workSj and it is dedicated to
the honour of the two saints, John the Evan-
gelist and John the Baptist, who are patrons
of the Hospital. The central panel represents
Our Lady, seated in an exquisite cloister, on a
throne backed with cloth of gold. To the right
and left are two exquisite angels, one of whom
plays a regal, while the other, in a delicious pale
blue robe, holds a book for Our Lady. Two
smaller angels, poised in air, support her crown.
To the left, St. Catherine of Alexandria kneels
as princess, with the broken wheel and the
sword of her martyrdom at her feet. The Child
Christ places a ring on her finger ; whence the
whole composition is often absurdly called
" The Marriage of St. Catherine." It should
Lfe styled " The Altar-piece of the St. Johns."
The Hospital of St. John 89
To the right is St, Barbara, calmly reading,
with her tower behind her. When these two
saints are thus combined, they represent the
meditative and the active hfe (as St. Barbara
was the patroness of arms), or, more definitely,
the clergy and the knighthood. Hence their
appropriateness to an institution, half monastic,
half secular. In the background stand the two
patron saints; St. John the Baptist with the
lamb (Memling's personal patron), to the left,
and St. John the Evangelist with the cup and
serpent, to the right. (For these symbols, see
Mrs. Jameson.) Behind the Baptist are scenes
from his life and preaching. He is led to
prison, and his body is burned by order of
Julian the Apostate. Behind the Evangelist, he
is seen in the cauldron of boiling oil. The
small figure in black to the right is the chief
donor. Brother Jan Floreins, who is seen
further back in his secular capacity as public
ganger of wine, near a great crane, which
affords a fine picture of mercantile life in old
Bruges. The left wing represents the life of
St. John the Baptist. In the distance is seen
the Baptism of Christ. In a room to the left,
the daughter of Herodias dances before Herod.
(^ Belgium : Its Cities
The foreground is occupied by the episode of
the Decollation, treated in a courtly manner,
very redolent of the Burgundian splendour.
Figures and attitudes are charming : only, the
martyrdom sinks into insignificance beside the
princess's collar. Other minor episodes may
be discovered by inspection. The episodes on
either wing overflow into the main pictures.
The right wing shows St. John the Evangelist
in Patmos, writing the Apocalypse, various
scenes from which are realistically and too
solidly represented above him, without poetical
insight. Memling here attempts to transcend
his powers. He has no sublimity. On the
exterior of the wings are seen the four other
members of the society who were donors of
the altar-piece; Anthony Zeghers, master of
the Hospital, with his patron, St. Anthony,
known by his pig and tau-shaped crutch and
bell ; Jacob de Cueninc, treasurer, accompanied
by his patron, St. James the Greater, with his
pilgrim's stafif and scallop-shell ; Agnes Casern-
brood, mistress of the Hospital, with her patron,
St. Agnes, known by her lamb; and Claire
van Hulsen, a sister, with her patron, St. Clara.
Dated, 1479.
MEMLING. — ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST.
The Hospital of St. John 91
By the entrance door is a Portrait of Marie
Moreel, represented as a Sibyl. She was a
daughter of Willem Moreel or Morelli, a patron
of Memling, whom we shall meet again at the
Museum. This is a fine portrait of a solid,
plain body, a good deal spoiled by attempted
cleaning. It comes from the Hospice of St.
Julian.
As you go out cast a glance at the fine old
brick buildings, and note the cleanliness of all
the arrangements.
Return more than once: do not be satisfied
with a single visit.
The other pictures and objects formerly
exhibited in this Hospital have been transferred
to the Potterie and another building. They
need only be visited by those whose time is
ample.
After leaving the Hospital, I do not advise
an immediate visit to the Academy. Let the
Memlings first sink into your mind. But the
walk may be prolonged by crossing the canal,
and taking the second turning to the right,
which leads, over a pretty bridge of three
arches, to the Beguinage, a lay-nunnery for
ladies who take no vows, but who live in mo-
g2 Belgium : Its Cities
nastic fashion under the charge of a Superior.
Above the gateway is a figure of St. Elizabeth
of Hungary, to whom the church within is
dedicated, giving alms to a beggar. She wears
her crown, and carries in her hand the crown
and book which are her symbol. Remember
these, — they will recur later. Pass under the
gateway and into the grass-grown precincts
for an external glimpse of the quiet old-world
close, with its calm whitewashed houses. The
church dedicated to St. Elizabeth is uninter-
esting. Tliis walk may be further prolonged
by the pretty bank of the Lac d' Amour or
Minnewater as far as the external canal, re-
turning by the ramparts and the picturesque
Porte de Gand.
CHAPTER VIL
THE TOWN OF BRUGES IN GENERAL
THE town of Bruges itself is more interest-
ing, after all, than almost any one thing
in it. Vary your day by giving up the morning
to definite sightseeing, and devoting the after-
noon to strolls through the town and neigh-
bourhood, in search of picturesqueness. I
subjoin a few stray hints for such casual
rambles.
Set out from the Grand' Place, and turn
down the Rue Breydel to the Place du Bourg.
Cross the Place by the statue of Jan van Eyck ;
traverse the Rue Philippe Stock; turn up the
Rue des Armuriers a little to the right, and
continue on to the Place St. Jean, with a
few interesting houses. Note here and else-
where, at every turn, the little statues of the
Virgin and Child in niches, and the old signs
on the fronts or gables. The interesting Gothic
93
94 Belgium : Its Cities
turret which faces you as you go belong-s to
the old fourteenth century building called De
Poorters Loodge, or the Assembly Hall of the
Noble Citizens Within the Gate, as opposed to
those of the Franc de Bruges. Continue on in
the same direction to the Place Jan van Eyck,
where you open up one of the most charm-
ing views in Bruges over the canal and quays.
The Place is " adorned " by a modern statue
of Jan van Eyck. The dilapidated building
to your left is that of the Academie des Beaux-
Arts which occupies the site of the Citizens'
Assembly Hall : the ancient edifice was wholly
rebuilt and spoilt in 1755, with the exception of
the picturesque tower, best viewed from the
base of the statue. Opposite you, as you emerge
into the Place, is the charming Tonlieu or Cus-
tom House, whose decorated facade and portal
(restored) bear the date 1477, with the arms
of Pieter van Luxemburg, and the collar of the
Golden Fleece. The dainty little neighbour-
ing house to the left, now practically united
with it, has a coquettish fagade: the saints in
the niches are St. George, St. John Baptist, St.
Thomas a Becket (or Augustine?), and St.
John the Evangelist.
The Town of Bruges in General 95
The Tonlieu is now fitted up as the Municipal
Library, and is open daily, free, from ten to
one, and from three to five, Saturday and
Sunday excepted. It contains illuminated
manuscripts and examples of editions printed
by Colard Mansion. All round the Place are
other picturesque mediaeval or Renaissance
houses.
The little street diagonally to the right of
the Tonlieu leads on to the Marche du Mercedi,
now called Place de Memling, embellished by
a statue of the great painter. Cross the Place
diagonally to the Quai des Espagnoles, keep-
ing the Madonna and Child in front of you,
and continue along the quay, to the left, to the
first bridge; there cross and go along the pic-
turesque Quai des Augustins to the Rue
Flamande. There is a quaint little window
to the left as you cross the bridge. Follow
the Rue Flamande as far as the Theatre, just
before reaching which you pass, right, a hand-
some mediaeval stone mansion (formerly the
Guild of the Genoese Merchants), with a
relief over the door, representing St. George
killing the Dragon, and the Princess Cleodolind
looking on. At the Theatre, turn to the right,
96 Belgium : Its Cities
following the tram line, and making your way
back to the Grand' Place by the Rue des
Tonneliers.
As early as 1362, Bruges acquired its
existing size, and was surrounded by ramparts,
which still in part remain. A continuous canal
runs round these ramparts, and beyond it again
lies an outer moat. Most of the old gates have
unhappily been destroyed, but four still exist.
These may be made the objects of interesting
rambles.
Go from your hotel, or from the Grand'
Place, by the Rue Flamande, as far as the Rue
de I'Academie. Turn along this to the right,
into the Place Jan van Eyck, noting as you pass
the Bear of Bruges at the corner of the building
of the old Academy. Follow the quay straight
on till you reach a second canal, near the cor-
ner of which, by the Rue des Carmes, is an
interesting shop with good beaten brasswork.
Take the long squalid Rue des Carmes to the
right, past the ugly convent of the English
Ladies, with its domed church in the most
painful taste of the later Renaissance (1730).
The mediseval brick building on your right, at
the end of the street, is the late Gothic Guild-
The Town of Bruges in General 97
house of the Archers of St. Sebastian. Its
slender octagonal tower has a certain pictur-
esqueness. (St. Sebastian was of course the
patron of archery.) Charles II. of England
(see under the Grand' Place) was a member
of this society during his exile: his bust is
preserved here. So also was the Emperor
Maximilian. Continue to the ramparts, and
mount the first hill, crowned by a windmill, —
a scene of a type familiar to us in many later
Dutch and Flemish pictures. A picturesque
view of Bruges is obtained from this point :
the octagonal Belfry, the square tower of St.
Sauveur, the Cathedral, the tapering brick
spire of Notre-Dame, with its projecting gal-
lery, and the steeple of the new Church of the
Madeleine are all conspicuous in views from
this side. Follow the ramparts to the right,
to the picturesque Porte de Ste. Croix, and
on past the barracks and the little garden to
the Quai des Dominicains, returning by the
Park and the Place du Bourg or the Dyver.
Set out by the Grand' Place and the Place
du Bourg; then follow the Rue Haute, with
its interesting old houses, as far as the canal.
Do not cross it, but skirt the quay on the
gS Belgium : Its Cities
further side, with the towers of St. Walburge
and St. Gilles in front of you. At the bridge,
diverge to the rights round the Church of St.
Anne, and the quaint Httle Church of Jeru-
salem, which contains an unimportant imita-
tion of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem,
founded by a burgomaster of Bruges in the
fifteenth century. It is just worth looking at.
Return to the bridge, and follow the quay
straight on to the modern Episcopal Seminary
and the picturesque old Hospice de la Potterie,
which now harbours the Museum of Antiq-
uities belonging to the Hospital of St. John.
I do not advise a visit. It contains third-rate
early Flemish pictures, inferior tapestry, and
a few pieces of carved oak furniture. Admis-
sion, fifty centimes : entrance by the door just
beyond the church. No, F, 79. The church
itself is worth a minute's visit. This walk
passes many interesting old houses, which it
is not necessary now to specify. Return by the
Porte de Damme, and the opposite side of the
same canal, to the Pont des Carmes, whence
follow the pretty canal on the right to the Rue
Flamande.
Take the Rue St. Jacques, and go straight
CHURCH OF JERUSALEM, BRUGES.
The Town of Bruges in General 99
out to the Porte d'Ostende, which forms an
interesting picture. Cross the canal and outer
moat, and traverse the long avenue, past the
gasometers, as far as the navigable canal from
Bruges to Ostend. Then retrace your steps
to the gateway, and return by the ramparts
and the Railway Station to the Rue Nord du
Sablon.
These four walks will show you almost all
that is externally interesting in the streets and
canals of the city.
The original Palace of the Counts of Flan-
ders, we saw, occupied the site of the Palais
de Justice. Their later residence, the Cour
des Princes, in a street behind the Hotel du
Commerce, has now entirely disappeared. Its
site is filled by a large, ornate modern build-
ing, belonging to the Sisters of the Sacred
Heart, who use it as a school for girls.
The water-system of Bruges is also inter-
esting. The original river Reye enters the
town at the Minnewater, flows past the Hos-
pital and the Dyver, and turns northward at
the Bourg, running under arches till it emerges
on the Place Jean van Eyck. This accounts
for the apparently meaningless way this branch
lOO Belgium : Its Cities
seems to stop short close to the statue of Van
Eyck : also, for the mediaeval ships unloading
at the Grand' Place. The water is now mostly
diverted along the canals and the moat by the
ramparts.
CATHEDRAL OF ST SAUVKUR, BRUGES.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CHURCHES OF BRUGES
THE original Cathedral of Bruges, St.
Donatian, was destroyed, as we saw,
by the French, in 1799; but the town still
possesses two fine mediaeval churches of con-
siderable pretensions, as well as several others
of lesser importance. Though of very ancient
foundation, the two principal churches in their
existing form date only from the most flour-
ishing period of Bruges, the thirteenth, four-
teenth, and fifteenth centuries.
St. Salvator or St. Sauveur, the larger, was
erected into the Cathedral after the destruction
of St. Donatian, whose relics were transferred
to it. To this, therefore, we will first direct
ourselves.
Go down the Rue des Pierres as far as the
Cathedral, which replaces a very ancient church
built by St. Eligius (St. Eloy) in 646.
I02 Belgium : Its Cities
Externally, the edifice, which is built of brick,
has rather a heavy and cumbrous effect, its
chief good features being the handsome square
tower and the large decorated windows of
the north and south transepts. The choir
and its chapels have the characteristic French
form of a chevet. The main portal of the
north transept has been robbed of its sculp-
ture. The choir is of the late thirteenth cen-
tury : the nave and transept are mainly in the
decorated style of the fourteenth.
The best entrance is near the tower on the
north side. Walk straight on into the body
of the nave, by the archway in the heavy tower,
so as to view the internal architecture as a
whole. The nave and single aisles are hand-
some and imposing, though the windows on the
south side have been despoiled of their tracery.
Notice the curious high-pointed triforium
(1362), between the arches of the nave and
the windows of the clerestory. The choir is
closed by a strikingly ugly debased Renais-
sance or rococo rood-screen (1682), in black-
and-white marble, supporting the organ. It
has a statue of God the Father, by the younger
Quellin. The whole of the interior has been
The Churches of Bruges 103
decorated afresh in somewhat gaudy poly-
chrome, by Jean Bethune. The effect is on
the whole not unpleasing.
The Cathedral contains few works of art of
high merit, but a preliminary walk round the
aisles, transept, and ambulatory behind the
choir will give a good idea of its general ar-
rangement. Then return to view the paintings.
The sacristan takes you round and unlocks
the pictures. Do not let him hurry you.
Begin with the left aisle.
The baptistery, on your left, contains a hand-
some font. Right and left of the entry to it
are admirable brasses. In the baptistery itself,
on the left wall, are two wings of a rather
quaint triptych, representing St. Martin divid-
ing his cloak with the beggar; St. Nicholas
raising to life the three boys who had been
salted for meat; St. Mary Magdalen with the
pot of ointment (in the distance, as Penitent
in the Desert) ; and St. Barbara with her
tower; dated 1613. Also a rude Flemish
picture (sixteenth century) of the lives of St.
Joachim and St. Anna, and their daughter, the
Blessed Virgin : — the main episodes are the
Marriage of the Virgin, Birth of the Virgin,
I04 Belgium : Its Cities
and Rejection of St. Joachim from the Tem-
ple, with other scenes in the background.
The end wall of the baptistery has Peter
Pourbus's masterpiece, a * triptych painted for
the Guild of the Holy Sacrament, attached to
the church of St. Sauveur, and allusive to their
functions. The outer wings, when closed,
represent the miracle of the Mass of St.
Gregory, when the host, as he consecrated it,
was changed into the bodily presence of the
Saviour, to silence a doubter. It thus shows
in a visible form the tremendous mystery of
transubstantiation, in honour of which the
Guild was founded. Behind, the Brothers of
the Confraternity are represented (on the right
wing) in attendance on the Pope, as spectators
of the miracle. One of them holds his triple
crown. These may rank among the finest
portraits by the elder Pourbus. They show
the last stage in the evolution of native Flemish
art before it was revolutionized by Rubens.
The inner picture represents, in the centre, the
Last Supper, or rather, the Institution of the
Eucharist, to commemorate which fact the
Guild was founded. The arrangement of the
figures is in the old conventional order, round
The Churches of Bruges 105
three sides of a table, with Judas in the fore-
ground to the left. The wings contain Old
Testament subjects of typical import, as fore-
shadowing the Eucharist. On the left, Mel-
chisedec giving bread and wine to Abraham;
on the right, Elijah fed by the angel in the
Wilderness. All the faces have still much of
the old Flemish portrait character.
On the right wall are the wings of a picture,
by F. Pourbus (the son), painted for the Guild
of Shoemakers, whose chapel is adjacent. The
inside contains portraits of the members. On
the outside are their patrons, St. Crispinus and
St. Crispianus, with their shoemakers' knives.
Also, an early Crucifixion, of the school of
Cologne (about 1400), with St. Catherine hold-
ing her wheel and trampling on the tyrant
Maximin, by whose orders she was executed,
and St. Barbara with her tower. Tliese two
also occur together in Memling's great triptych.
The picture is interesting as the only specimen
in Bruges of the precursors of Van Eyck on
the lower Rhine. The baptistery contains,
besides, a fine old candlestick, and a quaint
ciborium, for the Holy Oil, with coloured re-
liefs of the Seven Joys of Mary (1536)-
lo6 Belgium: Its Cities
The vistas from the north transept are im-
pressive. It terminates in the Chapel of the
Shoemakers' Guild, with a fine carved wooden
door of about 1470, and good brasses, as well
as an early crucifix. It is dedicated to the
patron saints of the craft, and bears their arms,
a boot.
The first two chapels in the ambulatory
(behind the choir) have good screens.
The third chapel encloses the tomb of Arch-
bishop Carondelet, in alabaster (1544), a fine
work of the Italian Renaissance. The Descent
from the Cross, by Claeissens, with the Crown
of Thorns and the Holy Blood in the fore-
ground : on the wings, St. Philip, and the
donor, under the protection of the canonized
Charlemagne. Near this is a * triptych, by
Dierick Bouts (falsely ascribed to Memling),
representing, in the centre, St. Hippolytus torn
to pieces by four horses. (He was the jailor
of St. Lawrence, who converted him : see Mrs.
Jameson.) The faces show well the remark-
able power of this bourgeois painter of Lou-
vain. On the left wing are the donors ; on the
right wing Hippolytus confesses himself a
Christian, and is condemned to martyrdom.
The Churches of Bruges 107
Over the altar, a Tree of Jesse, in carved wood-
work, with the family of Our Lady: on the
wings (painted), the legend of St. Hubert
and the stag, and the legend of St. Lucy.
In the apse is the Chapel of the Host.
The next chapel, of the Seven Sorrows, has
a Mater Dolorosa of 1460 (copy of one at
Rome) ; a fine * brass ; and the * portrait of
Philippe le Beau, known as Philippus Stok
(father of Charles V.), and bearing the collar
of the Golden Fleece.
The choir (admirable architecturally) con-
tains the * stalls and arms of the Knights of
the Golden Fleece, with good carved misereres.
The Cathedral contains many other pictures
of interest, which, however, do not fall within
the scope of these guides.
The churchwardens' vestry contains manu-
scripts and church furniture, sufficiently de-
scribed by the sacristan.
In the sacristy are still preserved the relics
of St. Donatian.
Give the sacristan a franc, and then go round
alone again, to inspect the unlocked pictures
at your leisure.
On leaving the Cathedral, go round the south
lo8 Belgium: Its Cities
side, which affords an excellent view of the
chapels built out from the apse. Then take
the little Rue du St. Esprit as far as the church
of Notre-Dame, which replaces a chapel, built
by St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, in
744, and enclosed in the town in 909.
Stand opposite it, in the small Place on the
north side, to observe the somewhat shapeless
architecture, the handsome brick tower crowned
by a tall brick steeple, and the beautiful little
* porch or " Paradise," built out from the main
structure in flamboyant Gothic of the fifteenth
century. The portal of this porch has been
walled up, and the area is now used as a chapel,
approached from the interior. Notice the deli-
cate tracery of the windows, the fine finials
and niches, and the charming gable-end.
The picturesque building with turrets to the
left of the church wa^ originally the mansion
of the family Van der Gruuthuus, one of the
principal mediaeval stocks of Bruges. It had
a passage communicating with the family gal-
lery in the Church of Notre-Dame. The build-
ing is now in course of being restored and
fitted up for the Town Museum of Antiquities.
A Museum of Lace is already installed in it;
The Churches of Bruges 109
the entrance is by a doorway over the bridge
to the left (fifty centimes per person).
Enter the church, and walk straight into the
nave, below the great west window, a spot
which affords a good view of the centre of the
church, the vaulted double aisles, and the an-
gular apse. The choir is shut off from the
body of the church by a very ugly marble rood-
screen (1722), still bearing its crucifix, and
with a figure of Our Lady, patroness of the
church, enshrined above its central arch. Ro-
coco statues of the Twelve Apostles, with their
well-know^n symbols (1618), are attached to
the pillars. Note these symbols : they recur
in similar situations everywhere. In spite of
hideous disfigurements, the main portion of
the interior is still a fine specimen of good
middle Gothic architecture, mainly of the four-
teenth century.
Walk up the outer left aisle. The last bay
is formed by the baptistery, originally the
porch, whose beautiful exterior we have already
viewed. Its interior architecture is also very
charming. It contains the Font, and the usual
figure of the patron, St. John the Baptist. This
aisle terminates in an apsidal chapel (of the
I lo Belgium : Its Cities
Holy Cross) containing inferior pictures of the
seventeenth century, representing the history
of a relic of the True Cross preserved here.
The inner left aisle leads to the ambulatory
or passage at the back of the Choir. The Con-
fessionals to the right have fairly good rococo
carved woodwork, 1689. On the left is the
handsome mediaeval woodwork gallery ( 1474),
belonging to the Van der Gruuthuus family,
originally approached by a passage from their
mansion behind. Beneath it, is a screen of
delicate early Gothic architecture, with family
escutcheons above the door.
The windows of the apse have good modern
stained glass.
On the left, at the entrance to the apse, is
Pourbus's Adoration of the Shepherds, a
winged picture, closed. The sacristan will open
it. On the wings are, left, the donor, Sire
Josse de Damhoudere, with his patron, St.
Josse, and his four sons; right, his wife,
Louise, with her five daughters, and her patron,
St. Louis of France, wearing his crown and
robe of fleurs-de-lis, and holding the main de
justice. He is represented older than is usual,
or indeed historical, and in features somewhat
The Churches of Bruges ill
resembles Henry IV. This is a fine picture
for its master. On the outer wings are the
cognate subjects, the Circumcision and the
Adoration of the Magi, in grisaille.
The chapel in the apse, formerly the Lady
Chapel, now contains the host. It has a gaudy
modern altar for the monstrance.
In the south ambulatory, over a doorway,
Foundation of the Church of Santa Maria
Maggiore at Rome, by Claeissens.
A chapel to the left, just beyond, locked, but
opened by the sacristan (one franc; or, for a
party, fifty centimes each), contains the cele-
brated ** tombs of Mary of Burgundy and
Charles the Bold, her father. Mary was the
wife of Maximilian, and died by a fall from
her horse in 1482, when only twenty-five. Her
** monument was designed and executed by
Peter Beckere of Brussels, by order of her
son, Philippe le Beau, in 1502. The sarcopha-
gus is of black marble: the statue of the
princess, in gilt bronze, lies recumbent upon it.
The style is intermediate between that of the
later Middle Ages and of the full Renaissance.
Beside it is the * tomb of Charles the Bold, of
far less artistic value. Charles was buried at
112 Belgium : Its Cities
Nancy, after the fatal battle, but his body was
transported to St. Donatian in this town by
his descendant, Charles V., and finally laid here
beside his daughter by Philip II., who had this
tomb constructed for his ancestor in imitation
of that of Mary.
I advise the visitor after seeing these tombs
and the great chimney-piece of the Franc de
Bruges to read up the history of Charles the
Bold and his descendants, down to Charles V.
The east wall of this chapel, beyond the
tomb of Charles the Bold, has a fine picture of
Our Lady of Sorrows, enthroned, surrounded
by smaller subjects of the Seven Sorrows.
Beginning at the left, the Circumcision, the
Flight into Egypt, Christ lost by his parents in
the Temple, the Way to Calvary (with St. Ve-
ronica holding out her napkin), the Crucifixion
(with Our Lady, St. John, and Mary Mag-
dalen), the Descent from the Cross, and the
Deposition in the Tomb. A fine work of its
sort, attributed to Mostart (or to Maubeuge).
On the west wall are two wings from a triptych,
by Pourbus, with tolerable portraits (centre-
piece destroyed), and an early Flemish paint-
MICHAEL ANGELO. — MADONNA AND CHILD.
The Churches of Bruges 113
ing of the Dqx>sition from the Cross (inter-
esting for comparison with Roger van der
Weyden and Gerard David). In the fore-
ground Hes the vessel containing the Holy-
Blood. On the wings are the Crucifixion and
the Resurrection. The whole is very rudely
painted. Outside are portraits of the donor
and his wife and children, with their patrons,
St. James (staff and scallop) and St. Margaret
(whose dragon just appears in the back-
ground).
On an arcade, a little further on, is a very
early fresco (1350?) of a saint (St. Louis of
France?), and also a dainty small relief (about
1500) of a donor, introduced by his patron,
St. Peter, adoring Our Lady.
The end chapel of the right aisle, that of the
Holy Sacrament, contains a celebrated and
noble white marble ** Madonna and Child,
by Michael Angelo, enshrined in a black marble
niche. The pensive, grave, and graceful face,
the exquisite modelling of the dainty naked
Child, and the beautiful infantile pose of its
left hand, all betray a design of Michael An-
gelo, though the execution may possibly have
been left to pupils. But the modelling is softer
114 Belgium: Its Cities
and more feminine than is usual with this great
sculptor, except in his early period. In this
respect, it resembles most the unfinished Ma-
donna in the Bargello at Florence. Condivi
mentions that Peter Mouscron of Bruges or-
dered of Michael Angelo a Madonna and
Child in bronze: he was probably mistaken
as to the material : and we have here doubt-
less the work in question. Apart from its
great artistic value, this exquisite group is
interesting as affording another link between
Flanders and Italy.
The same chapel also contains some good
seventeenth century pictures.
Near the confessional, as we return toward
the West End of the church, we find a good
diptych of Herrimet de Bles, of 1520, con-
taining, left panel, an Annunciation, with
all the conventional elements; to the left, as
usual, is the angel Gabriel; to the right, Our
Lady. These relative positions are never al-
tered. The lilies in the pot, the desk and book,
the bed with its furniture, the arcade in the
background, and the rich brocade, are all con-
stant features in pictures of this subject. Look
out for them elsewhere. The right panel has
The Churches of Bruges 115
the Adoration of the Magi, with the old, mid-
dle-aged, and young Kings, the last-named a
Moor. This quaint and interesting work of
a Flemish painter, with its archaic background,
and its early Italian reminiscences, also betrays
the influence of Diirer. Among the other
pictures may be mentioned a triptych : the
central panel shows the Transfiguration, with
the three apostles below, Moses, Elias, and the
Eternal Father above (perhaps by Jan Mos-
tart). On the wings (much later, by P. Pour-
bus), are the portraits of the donor, his wife,
and their patron saints.
The West Wall of the church has several
large pictures of the later Renaissance, which
can be sufficiently inspected on their merits
by those who care for them. The best of them
are the Adoration of the Magi, by Seghers, and
De Crayer's Adoration of the Infant Jesus.
I do not propose to deal at length with later
Flemish art till we reach Brussels and Ant-
werp : at Bruges, it is best to confine one's self
to the introductory period of Flemish painting
— that of the Burgundian princes. I will
therefore only call attention here to the mean-
ingless way in which huge pictures like B. van
Ii6 Belgium: Its Cities
Orley's Crucifixion, with subsidiary scenes
from the Passion, reproduce the form of earher
winged pictures, which becomes absurd on this
gigantic scale.
The Church of St. Jacques stands in the
street of the same name, conveniently near the
Hotel du Commerce. It is a good old mediae-
val building (twelfth century, rebuilt 1457 —
1 5 18), but hopelessly ruined by alterations in
the seventeenth century, and now, as a fabric,
externally and internally uninteresting. Its
architecture is in the churchwarden style: its
decoration in the upholsterer's. The carved
wooden pulpit is a miracle of bad taste (sev-
enteenth century), surpassed only by the parti-
coloured marble rood-screen. A few good
pictures and decorative objects, however, occur
among the mass of paintings ranged round its
walls as in a gallery. The best is a panel of
the old Flemish School (by Dierick Bouts, or
more probably a pupil), in the left aisle, just
beyond the second doorway. It tells very
naively the History of St. Lucy (see Mrs.
Jameson). In the left panel, she informs her
mother that she is about to distribute her goods
to the poor, who are visibly represented in
The Churches of Bruges 1 1 7
a compact body asking alms behind her. In
the centre, she is haled before the consul
Paschasius by her betrothed, whom she refuses
to marry. She confesses herself a Christian,
and is condemned to a life of shame. In the
right, she is dragged away to a house of ill-
fame, the consul Paschasius accompanying;
but two very stumpy oxen fail to move her.
The Holy Ghost flits above her head. The
details are good, but the figures very wooden.
Dated, 1480.
Beside it is an extravagant Lancelot Blon-
deel of St. Cosmo and St. Damian, the doctor
saints, with surgical instruments and pots of
ointment. The central picture shows their
martyrdom. ,
Further on hangs a good Flemish triptych
(according to Waagen, by Jan Mostart), rep-
resenting the prophecies of Christ's coming:
centre, the Madonna and Child; with King
Solomon below, from whom a genealogical
tree rises to bear St. Joachim and St. Anna,
parents of Our Lady. Right and left of him,
Balaam and Isaiah, who prophesied of the
Virgin and Christ : with two Sibyls, univer-
sally believed in the Middle Ages to have also
1 1 8 Belgium : Its Cities
foretold the advent of the Saviour. The stem
ends in the Virgin and Child. Left, the Tibur-
tine Sibyl showing the Emperor Augustus the
vision of the glorious Virgin in the sky : right,
St. John the Evangelist in Patmos beholding
the Apocalyptic vision of the Woman clothed
with the Sun. This is a fine work of its kind,
and full of the prophetic ideas of the Middle
Ages.
Pass round the ambulatory and choir to the
first chapel at the east end of the right aisle.
It contains an altar with the Madonna and
Child in Delia Robbia ware, probably by Luca.
Also, a fine tomb of Ferry de Gros and his
two wives, the first of whom reposes by his
side and the second beneath him. This is a
good piece of early Renaissance workmanship
(about 1530). The church also contains a
few excellent later works by Pourbus and
others, which need not be specified. This was
the church of the Florentine merchants at
Bruges (whence perhaps the Delia Robbia)
and particularly of the Portinari, who com-
missioned the great altar-piece, by Van der
Goes, now in the Hospital of Santa Maria
Nuova at Florence.
LUCA DELLA ROBBIA. MADONNA AND CHILD.
The Churches of Bruges 1 19
The other churches of Bruges need not de-
tain the tourist, though all contain a few
objects of interest for the visitor who has
a week or two at his disposition.
CHAPTER IX.
THE ACADEMY OF BRUGES
THE Academie des Beaux-Arts, which
formerly occupied the Poorters Loodge,
or Guild Hall of the citizens within the gates,
has a small but valuable collection of pictures,
removed from the destroyed Cathedral of St.
Donatian and other churches of Bruges, which
well repays a visit. You will here have an
excellent opportunity for studying Jan van
Eyck, whose work I shall more particularly
notice when we arrive at Ghent. It is inter-
esting, however, here to compare him with
his great successor, Memling, who is repre-
sented at the Academy by a fine tripych. The
little gallery also contains some admirable
works by Gerard David, one of the latest of
the old School of Flemish painters, whose
work may thus be observed here side by side
with those of his two chief predecessors. Ow-
120
The Academy of Bruges 1 21
ing to the ruinous state of the original build-
ing the collection has been transferred to a
temporary apartment, beyond the Hospital
Bridge, near the Church of Notre-Dame. No
tourist should leave Bruges without visiting
this interesting collection.
At present the Museum is situated in a
house on the right hand side of the Rue Ste.
Catherine, nearly opposite a new church. Go
to it past the Hospital of St. John. Admission
daily, fifty centimes per person.
Begin in the centre of the wall opposite the
entrance.
( I ) Jan van Eyck. ** Altar-piece, ordered
by George van der Palen, for the High Altar
of the original Cathedral of St. Donatian, of
which he was a canon. The centre of the
picture is occupied by the Madonna and Child,
the face of Our Lady somewhat recalling Ger-
man models. She sits in the apse of a church,
probably St. Donatian. The Child, whom it
is the fashion to describe as " aged-looking,"
fondles a parrot and grasps a bunch of flowers.
To the left stands St. Donatian, the Arch-
bishop, patron saint of the church for which
this altar-piece was painted. He bears his
122 Belgium; Its Cities
usual symbol, the wheel with five lighted can-
dles (as in the beautiful panel, by Gerard
David, in the National Gallery at London).
This is a fine and finely-painted figure. To the
right, St. George, in full armour, admirably
represented, but in an affected attitude, lifts
his casque somewhat jauntily as he presents
his namesake, the Canon George, to Our
Lady. In all this we get a touch of Bur-
gundian courtliness: the event is represented
as a state ceremonial. With his left hand the
Saint supports his Red Cross banner. The
portrait of the kneeling Canon himself —
asthmatic, pudding-faced — is very admirable
and lifelike, but by no means flattered. He
grips his prayer-book with an old man's trem-
ulous hand. (For a profound criticism of this
fine picture, see Conway.) The insipid Ma-
donna, the rather foolish St. George, the fine
portrait of the Canon, are all typical of Van
Eyck's manner. The accessories of archi-
tecture, decoration, and background, should
also be carefully noted. The capitals of the
columns and the knobs of glass in the window,
as well as St. George's costume, are elaborated
in Van Eyck's finest fashion.
JAN VAN EYCK. — ST. GEORGE
(Detail from Madonna and Child).
The Academy of Bruges 123
(2) Jan van Eyck. * Portrait of his wife,
painted for presentation to the Bruges Guild of
Painters, together with one of the artist him-
self, now undiscoverable. This is a fine though
evidently unflattered portrait of a capable
housewife, very stiffly arrayed in her best
church-going costume. It deserves close in-
spection.
Above it, (3) Head of Christ, ascribed to
Jan van Eyck, but in reality a poor and re-
duced copy of the picture at Berlin.
(4) Memling. ** Triptych painted for
Willem Moreel or Morelli, a member of a
wealthy Savoyard family settled at Bruges.
Like Jan van Eyck's portrait of the two Arnol-
fini in London, and Hugo van der Goes's trip-
tych of the Portinari at Florence, this picture
marks well the cosmopolitan character of old
Bruges. In the central panel, St. Christopher,
whose altar in the church of St. Jacques it
adorned, wades with his staff through the
water, feeling as he goes the increasing burden
of the Christ-Child on his shoulder. For the
legend, see Mrs. Jameson. To the left, above,
is the diminutive figure of the hermit with
his lantern, which always accompanies St.
1 24 Belgium : Its Cities
Christopher. The left foreground of the pic-
ture is occupied by St. Maurus, in his Bene-
dictine costume; to the right is St. Giles (St.
Egidius), the hermit, with the wounded doe,
the arrow piercing the arm of the saint. The
left wing represents the donor, Willem Moreel,
under the care of his patron, St. William, who
wears a hermit's dress above his coat of armour.
(When a saint places his hand on a votary's
shoulder, it usually implies that the votary is
a namesake.) Behind are Moreel's five sons.
All these portraits, but particularly that of the
donor and his eldest son, who closely resem-
bles him, are admirable. The right wing
represents the donor's wife, Barbara, under
the protection of her patron, St. Barbara, with
her tower, showing as usual three windows,
emblematic of the Holy Trinity. Behind the
lady are her two daughters, one of whom is
habited as a Benedictine nun, whence, doubt-
less, the introduction of St. Maurus into the
main altar-piece. This fine triptych originally
decorated an altar of St. Christopher in Mo-
reel's private chapel in the Church of St.
Jacques. One of his daughters is the " Sibylla
Sambetha " represented at the Hospital. The
The Academy of Bruges 125
wings at the back rq)resent in grisaille St.
John the Baptist with the lamb, and St.
George with the dragon. It was usual to paint
the outer wings in grisaille or in low tones of
colour, so that the splendour of the interior
hues might burst upon the spectator as the
triptych was opened.
(12) Attributed to Schoreel : really, by a
master of the Brabant School. Death of the
Virgin. Our Lady is represented on her death-
bed, surrounded, as always, by the surviving
apostles, who were miraculously collected to-
gether to her chamber. The faces are those
of Flemish peasants or artisans. Above, Christ
appears in glory, surrounded by a halo of
cherubs, to receive her new-born soul. Two
angels support his outer garment. This pic-
ture well shows the beginning of the later
Flemish tendency.
Now return to No. 5, by Gerard David,
on the other side of the great Van Eyck.
This is a * triptych, painted for Jean des
Trompes, for the High Altar of the Lower
Chapel of the Holy Blood. The central panel
represents the Baptism of Christ. In the
middle, the Saviour wades in the water of a
1 26 Belgium : Its Cities
diminutive Jordan, where the concentric cir-
cles show the increased careful study of nature.
On the right-hand side of the picture, St. John
the Baptist, patron saint of the donor, pours
water on his head. Tlie relative positions of
these two figures, and of the angel to the left
holding a robe, are conventional : they have de-
scended from a very early period of art. In
the Ravenna mosaics, the place of the angel
is filled by the river-god of the Jordan with
his urn, afterward transformed and Chris-
tianized into an angel with a towel. Look
out in future for similar arrangements. The
central figures are weak; but the robe of the
angel is painted with Flemish minuteness.
So are the flowers and leaves of the fore-
ground. Above, the dove descends upon the
head of the Saviour, while the Eternal Father
pronounces from the skies the words, " Be-
hold my Beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased."
In the background are two other episodes:
on the left, the preaching of St. John the
Baptist, where Oriental costumes indicate the
heathen; on the right, St. John the Baptist
pointing out Christ to his disciples with the
The Academy of Bruges 127
words, "Behold the Lamb of God." The-
distance shows two towns and a fine landscape.
Observ^e the admirable painting of the trees,
with their good shadows; also the ivy climb-
ing up the trunk of one to the right. This
picture is among the earliest in which the
gloom of a wood is accurately represented:
in many other respects it well illustrates the
rise of landscape-painting. (For an exhaustive
criticism, see Conway.) The left wing has a
portrait of the donor, with his other patron,
St. John the Evangelist, holding the cup. Be-
side the donor kneels his little son Philip.
This portrait, the face and foot of the Evan-
gelist, the fur of the donor's robe, the crane in
the background, and many other accessories
deserve close attention. Two figures in the
background dimly foreshadow Teniers. The
right wing has a portrait of the donor's wife,
Elizabeth, with her four daughters. Behind
her stands her patroness, St. Elizabeth of Hun-
gary, in Franciscan robes, with the crown on
her head and the double crown and book in
her hands, as on the statuette at the door
of the Begninage. The painting of a rosar}'
here is excellent. The outer wings (turn them
1 28 Belgium : Its Cities
back) show, on the left, the Madonna and
Child with a bunch of grapes; on the right,
the donor's second wife Madeleine, introduced
by her patroness, St. Mary Madeleine, who
holds the alabaster pot of ointment. By the
lady's side kneels her daughter. The back-
ground consists of a view, probably in the
Bruges of that period. Painted about 1507.
(6 and 7) Gerard David. * The Pun-
ishment of the Unjust Judge. These two
panels are of a type commonly set up in courts
of justice as a warning to evil-doers. They
were ordered by the Bruges magistracy. You
will see a similar pair by Dierick Bouts in
Brussels. The story, a horrid one, is taken
from Herodotus. Sisamnes was a judge in
Persia whom King Cambyses detected receiv-
ing a bribe and ordered to be flayed alive. The
king then stretched his skin on the seat
of judgment, and appointed the son of
Sisamnes to sit in his father's place, that he
might remember to avoid a like fate. The
first picture represents, in the background, the
bribery. In the foreground. King Cambyses,
in a rich, embroidered robe, demonstrates on
his fingers the gxiilt of the unjust judge.
DAVID. — OUTER WINGS OF TRIPTYCH.
The Academy of Bruges 129
Sisamnes is seized on his tribunal by a man
of the people; courtiers, lawyers, and bur-
gesses looking on. The expression on his face
and the painting of all the accessories is admi-
rable. In the second picture we have the flay-
ing of the unjust judge, a horrible scene,
powerfully rendered. Cambyses stands by,
holding his sceptre, surrounded by courtiers
who recall the last age of the Burgundian do-
minion. In the background (as a subsequent
episode) the son of Sisamnes is seen sitting in
his father's place : behind him hangs the skin of
the father. Architecture, landscape, ropes, and
all other accessories of this painful picture
should be carefully noted.
(15) J. Prevost. Last Judgment. Below,
the dead are rising, half naked, from the tomb,
girt only with their shrouds; the good re-
ceiving garments from angels, and the bad
hurried away to a very Flemish and unim-
pressive Hell. Above, Christ as Judge holds
the sword. Two angels blow out the words
of blessing or malediction. On the spectator's
left. Our Lady shows the breast that suckled
the Redeemer. Behind her are St. Peter with
the key, St. Paul with the sword, St. Bar-
130 Belgium : Its Cities
tholomew with the knife, and other saints.
On the right are St. John the Baptist with
the lamb, King David with the harp, Moses,
homed (as always), with the tables of the
law, and a confused group of saints. This
picture is rather curious than beautiful. Above
it is a later treatment of the same subject by
Van Coornhuuse, interesting for comparison
as showing the usual persistence of types and
the conventional grouping of the individual
figures. Compare especially the corresponding
personages in the lower left hand corners.
A few other pictures skied on this wall de-
serve passing notice. 29 is a Death and
the Miser, of the School of Quentin Matsys.
17, by Lancelot Blondeel, the architect of
the great chimneypiece of the Franc de
Bruges, represents St. Luke painting Our
Lady, in one of the fantastic frames in which
this painter delighted. 18, by the same,
has a St. George and the Dragon, with the
Princess Cleodolind looking on. Around it
are four smaller scenes of his martyrdom : —
he was boiled, burnt with torches, dragged by
a horse, and finally decapitated. 11 is a
good diptych of the Flemish school, by an un-
The Academy of Bruges 131
known contemporary of Gerard David. It
represents, left, a donor, with his patron St.
John the Almoner, holding his symbol, a sheaf
of corn. On the right, his wife with her
patroness, St. Godeliva. 28 is an Adora-
tion of the Magi, where the Three Kings
again illustrate the three ages of man and the
three continents. Beside it is a Nativity which
exhibits all the traditional features already
noted.
The end wall has in its centre a tolerably
good Adoration of the Magi, of the German
School, fifteenth century. Note once more the
Three Kings, of whom the youngest is a Moor.
Left of this, a * drawing, by Jan van Eyck,
of St. Barbara, which should be closely in-
spected. She holds a palm of martyrdom. In
the background, workmen build her tower.
It is interesting as a scene of real life at this
period. This is a replica of the well-known
picture at Antwerp. To the right, two coloured
drawings by Gerard David from the life of St.
John the Baptist. Above these hangs a toler-
able P. Pourbus of the Last Judgment,
valuable for comparison with the two previous
treatments of the same subject on the prin-
132 Belgium: Its Cities
cipal wall. Go from one to the other once or
twice. Later painters of the Renaissance use
this solemn theme as a mere excuse for ob-
truding the nude — and often the vulgar nude
— into churches. On the same wall are a
good triptych in grisaille by P. Pourbus (Way
to Calvary, Descent from the Cross, Resur-
rection ; from Notre Dame at Damme), and
other pictures.
The remaining walls have portraits and other
works, from the seventeenth century down-
wards, most of which need no explanation.
A few of them, indeed, are not without merit.
But, as I have before observed, it is best in
mediaeval Bruges to confine oneself to the
thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and early
sixteenth centuries, leaving the rise of the
Renaissance, and the later Flemish School of
painting, to occupy us at Antwerp, where they
can be studied to far greater advantage.
CHAPTER X.
ORIGINS OF GHENT
TI^LANDERS owes everything- to its water
-■- communications. At this junction of the
Schelde with the Lys or Lei, there grew up
in the very early Middle Ages a trading
town, named Gent, in Flemish, and Gand in
French, but commonly Anglicised as Ghent.
It lay on a close network of rivers and canals,
formed partly by these two main streams, and
partly by the minor channels of the Lieve and
the Moere, which together intersect it into
several islands. Such a tangle of inland water-
ways, giving access both to the sea and to
Bruges, Courtrai, and Tournay, as well as less
directly to Antwerp and Brussels, ensured the
rising town in early times considerable import-
ance. It formed the centre of a radiating com-
merce. Westward, its main relations were
with London and the English wool ports;
133
134 Belgium : Its Cities
eastward with Cologne, Maastricht, the Rhine
towns, and Italy. Ghent was always the
capital of East Flanders, as Bruges or Ypres
were of the Western province; and after the
counts lost possession of Arras and Artois,
it became in the thirteenth century their prin-
cipal residence and the metropolis of the
country. The trade in weaving grew rapidly
in importance, and the Ghenters received from
their count a charter of liberties of the usual
mediaeval burgher type. As time went on,
and the city advanced in wealth, its subjection
to its sovereigns became purely nominal.
Ghent equipped large bodies of citizen soldiers,
and repulsed a considerable English army under
Edward I. The Ghenters were also deter-
mined opponents of the claims of the French
kings to interfere in the internal affairs of
Flanders ; thus they were mainly instrumental
in winning the famous Battle of the Spurs in
1302, when the citizens of Bruges and Ghent
put to flight the army of France under the
Count of Artois before the walls of Tournay,
and dedicated as trophies seven hundred
golden spurs, worn by the French knights
whom they had routed. This battle, memorable
Origins of Ghent 135
as one of the chief triumphs of nascent in-
dustrial freedom over the chivalry and royalty
of mediaevalism, secured the liberties of the
Flemish towns against French aggression.
Early in the fourteenth century, the burgh-
ers of Ghent, under their democratic chief, Ja-
cob or Jacques van Artevelde, attained practi-
cal independence. Till 1322, the counts and
people of Flanders had been united in their re-
sistance to the claims of France; but with the
accession of Count Louis of Nevers, the aspect
of affairs changed. Louis was French by edu-
cation, sympathies, and interests, and aristo-
cratic by nature ; he sought to curtail the liber-
ties of the Flemish towns, and to make himself
despotic. The wealthy and populous burgher
republics resisted, and in 1337 Van Artevelde
was appointed Captain of Ghent. Louis fled
to France, and asked the aid of Philip of
Valois. Thereupon, Van Artevelde made him-
self the ally of Edward IIL of England, then
beginning his war with France; but as the
Flemings did not like entirely to cast ofif their
allegiance — a thing repugnant to mediaeval
sentiment — Van Artevelde persuaded Ed-
ward to put forward his trumped-up claim to
136 Belgium: Its Cities
the crown of France, and thus induced the
towns to transfer their fealty from Philip to
his English rival. It was therefore in his
character as King of France that Edward
came to Flanders. The alliance thus formed
between the great producer of raw wool, Eng-
land, and the great manufacturer of woollen
goods, Ghent, proved of immense commercial
importance to both parties. But as Count
Louis sided with Philip of Valois, the breach
between the democracy of Ghent and its
nominal sovereign now became impassable.
Van Artevelde held supreme power in Ghent
and Flanders for nine years — the golden age
of Flemish commerce — and was treated on
equal terms by Edward, who stopped at Ghent
as his guest for considerable periods. But he
was opposed by a portion of the citizens, and
his suggestion that the Black Prince, son of
Edward III., should be elected Count of Flan-
ders, proved so unpopular with his enemies
that he was assassinated by one of them, Gerard
Denys. The town and states immediately
repudiated the murder; and the alliance which
Van Artevelde had brought about still con-
tinued. It had far-reaching results; the
Origins of Ghent 1 37
woollen industry was introduced by Edward
into the Eastern Counties of England, and
Ghent had risen meanwhile to be the chief
manufacturing city of Europe.
The quarrel between the democratic weavers
and their exiled counts was still carried on by
Philip van Artevelde, the son of Jacques, and
godson of Queen Philippa of England, herself
a Hainaulter. Under his rule, the town con-
tinued to increase in wealth and population.
But the general tendency of later mediaeval
Europe toward centralized despotisms as
against urban republics was too strong in the
end for free Ghent. In 1381, Philip v/as ap-
pointed dictator by the democratic party, in the
war against the count, son of his father's old
opponent, whom he repelled with great
slaughter in a battle near Bruges. He then
made himself Regent of Flanders. But Count
Louis obtained the aid of Charles VI. of France,
and defeated and killed Philip van Artevelde
at the disastrous battle of Roosebeke in 1382.
That was practically the end of local freedom
in Flanders. Though the cities continued to
revolt against their sovereigns from time to
time, they were obliged to submit for the most
138 Belgium : Its Cities
part to their count and to the Burgundian
princes who inherited from him by marriage.
The subsequent history of Ghent is that of
the capital of the Burgunclian dukes, and of
the House of Austria. Here the German king,
Maximilian, afterward Emperor, married Mary
of Burgundy, the heiress of the Netherlands;
and here Charles V. was born in the palace of
the counts. It was his principal residence, and
he was essentially a Fleming. Other historical
reminiscences will be pointed out in the course
of our peregrinations.
The old waterways, partially artificial, be-
tween Ghent and the sea, other than the
circuitous route by the shallow Schelde, had
silted up by 1827, when a ship canal was con-
structed to Terneuzen. This canal has since
been widened and deepened so as to admit ves-
sels of seventeen hundred tons; it has thus
helped to some small degree to save the town
from the fate of Bruges. But as its mouth lies
in what is now Dutch territory, and as heavy
tolls are levied, it is comparatively little used.
Another and somewhat frequented canal leads
to Bruges; but Ghent owes most of its exist-
ing prosperity to its manufactures — cotton,
Origins of Ghent 1 39
linen, engines, leather — and to its central
position on the railway system.
The important points for the tourist to bear
in mind are these, however. Ghent during the
Middle Ages was a merchant republic, practi-
cally independent, with its guilds and its belfry,
the last of which was used to summon the
citizens to arms in case of danger. It was also
the chief manufacturing town in Europe, as
Bruges was the chief commercial centre. By
treaty with Edward III., Bruges was made the
" staple " or sole port of entry for English
wool : and this wool was woven into cloth for
the most part at Ghent.
Further details of the vicissitudes of Ghent
can be found in Van Duyse, " Gand, Monumen-
tal et Pittoresque."
The chief object of interest at Ghent are
the Cathedral, with its great Van Eyck; and
the Town Hall and Belfry. These can be toler-
ably seen in one day : but a stay of three or four
days will not be too much to explore the
curious nooks of the early city.
CHAPTER XL
THE CORE OF GHENT
THE old town of Ghent lies on the island
formed by the junction of the Lys and the
Schelde, with their various backwaters, all
now largely artificial. Near this point, but
beyond the Lys, the Counts of Flanders early
erected a strong castle, the Gravensteen or
Oudeburg, beneath whose protection, aided
by the two navigable rivers, merchants and
weavers gradually settled. As at Bruges, the
heart of the town, however, is purely municipal
and mercantile in its architecture. The Town
Hall, which was the meeting-place of the citi-
zens, and the Belfry, which summoned them
to arms or council^ are the chief points of in-
terest in the city. The Schelde is still tidal
to its very centre.
As most visitors will probably stop in one of
the hotels on the Place d'Armes, near the south
140
The Core of Ghent 141
end of older Ghent, I shall frankly take that
square as our starting-point. It may facilitate
recognition at first sight to add that the large
square tower visible to the right from the Place
d'Armes, is that of the Cathedral, while the
tapering spire, crowned by a gilt dragon, be-
longs to the Belfry.
Go first on a tour of orientation through
early Ghent. If you follow these directions
implicitly, you can see everything important
in one short walk. Cross the Place d'Armes
diagonally to the northeasterly corner, and
follow the small and narrow streets which run
due north to the front of the Cathedral. Walk
round the south side of this, to form a first
general impression, but do not enter it at
present.
Then, from the west front of the Cathedral,
take the Rue St. Jean straight before you. The
tower with the gilded dragon which faces you
as you walk is that of the Belfry. It was de-
signed in 1 183, about a century earlier than that
of Bruges, but only erected between 1321 and
1339; it is a fine work in the Early Gothic
style. Its windows have been walled up. The
tapering turret which crowns the tower is un-
1 42 Belgium : Its Cities
fortunately modern, and of iron. On the very
summit stands a huge gilded dragon, which
universal tradition represents as having been
brought from St. Sophia at Constantinople to
Bruges by the Crusader Baldwin of Flanders
( 1204), and removed as a trophy by the people
of Ghent, under Philip van Artevelde, in 1382.
It certainly appears to be of Oriental origin,
but is stated on documentary evidence, dis-
covered by M. Vuylsteke, to have been made
in Ghent itself in 1380. If so, it would seem
at least to be based on an Oriental model.
The small building to the right of the Belfry,
recently restored, is the Cloth Hall, erected
in 1424, a graceful but not very important
Gothic edifice, of the Decorated period, with
niches vacant of their statues. The concierge
of the Belfry now has a room in it. Appli-
cation must be made here to mount to the
summit, a dark and steep ascent. The ad-
mission is one franc, or two for a party.
The view is extensive and beautiful, but not
quite so striking as that at Bruges. The prin-
cipal buildings of the city lie just below you :
beyond, all Flanders. The chimes are cele-
brated. The chief bell is known as Roelandt.
BELFRY AND CLOTH HALL, GHENT.
The Core of Ghent 143
Now turn round into the Botermarkt or
Marche au Beurre to the right, and inspect
the Belfry again from the Httle bay in the
corner opposite. This is the best near view
of the tower. The portal to the right is the
entry to the town prison, beneath the Belfry.
In its gable is a too-famous eighteenth cen-
tury relief, the Mammelokker, representing the
Roman Daughter feeding her father from her
breast at the window of the prison, and doubt-
less intended to excite the charity of passers-by.
It certainly serves no other function, for it is
neither beautiful nor decorative.
Cross over to the right side of the Butter-
market. The building on the left, in two totally
distinct portions, is the Hotel-de^Ville. The
part at which you first arrive (latest in point
of time) was rebuilt in the early Renaissance
style in 1595 — 1628. It is one of the earliest
and in many ways the best example of Renais-
sance architecture in Belgium, in part because
it retains certain good features of local domestic
building, such as the pointed gable-ends (round
the corner to the left) and the projecting win-
dows with dormers on the main fagade. Look
out for their origin elsewhere. It has three
144 Belgium: Its Cities
storeys, with projecting half colonnades, the
columns being Doric on the ground floor, Ionic
on the first floor, and Corinthian on the second.
Recollect the gable-ends and dormers for
comparison with others in old houses in Ghent
hereafter.
Now, continue on to the corner, where we
arrive at the earlier Gothic portion of the
H6tel-de-Ville, erected in 1518 — 1535 by
Dominic de Waghemakere, who also built in
part the cathedral at Antwerp. The projecting
polygonal corner, with its handsome balcony,
is very noticeable. The work is of the latest
and most florid Gothic, somewhat lacking in
grace and dignity, but ornate in its splendour.
Observe the depressed arches, the noble cornice,
the rich decoration of garlands. Most of the
niches are now empty. From the corner op-
posite, a good view is obtained of both parts
of the H6tel-de-Ville and also of the Belfry,
Turn to the left into the Rue Haut-Port, to
observe the main front of this earlier Gothic
building, with its fine projecting windows
above, its empty niches, its handsome entrance
staircase and main portal, its beautiful little
balcony for addressing the people below, and
The Core of Ghent 145
the large projecting window of its ancient
chapel near the centre. Note how well the
fagade is thus broken up and diversified. This
is the finest specimen of florid Gothic in Bel-
gium. Beyond it comes another Renaissance
portion, and then a handsome Renaissance
dwelling-house. The street also contains
several fine early houses, the best of which, a
Gothic guild-hall, known as the Cour St.
Georges, stands at the corner to the left, facing
the H6tel-de-Ville.
The interior of the H6tel-de-Ville need not
be visited, though it has a handsome Gothic
staircase and some fine halls and internal
courts, interesting to those who have plenty
of time at their disposal.
Now, return to the Belfry and continue
straight down the left-hand side of the Rue de
la Catalogue. The church on the right, round
the base of which houses have been allowed
to cluster, is St. Nicholas — the oldest in the
town. This is one of the most solid pieces of
architecture at Ghent. It has a fine decorated
tower, which has happily escaped restoration,
besides small turrets to the Transepts, and two,
rather larger, to the gable of the Nave. Go
146 Belgium: Its Cities
on into the Koornmarkt or Marche aux Bles,
to the right ; stand there for a moment, at the
end of the Rue de la Catalogne, to observe the
fine coup d'ooil, which takes in St. Nicholas,
the Belfry, and the tower of the cathedral. The
main fagade of St. Nicholas, also encumbered
with houses, faces the Koornmarkt. Over the
door is a modern figure of the Saint himself,
raising three boys who were salted down for
meat. Nicholas was the popular saint, the pa-
tron of the merchants and burgesses; and the
prominent position of his church on the Corn
Market is very characteristic of the burgher
spirit of Ghent.
A hasty glance will suffice for the interior,
which is a characteristic specimen of the unre-
stored Belgian church, with figures of the
Twelve Apostles, as always, against the pillars
of the Nave; an ugly carved pulpit; short
Transepts; an Apse with bad glass; and the
vaulting of Nave, Aisles, and Choir con-
cealed by plaster. The tawdry decorations
render what might be a fine interior wholly
unimpressive. The High Altar has an altar-
piece by Liemakere, representing, in the con-
fused style of the School of Rubens, the elec-
VAN DYCK. — CRUCIFIXION.
The Core of Ghent 147
tion of St. Nicholas as Bishop of Myra. Above
is an eighteenth century figure of the Saint,
raising three boys from the tub. The early
pillars of the Choir are really handsome.
On emerging from the front of the church,
continue straight on to the bridge which
crosses the Lys, affording a good view to the
left of the Apse of St. Michel. Then, go along
the side of this handsome church, with late
Gothic windows resembling English Perpen-
dicular. It has a solid but unfinished tower,
and a good west portal, robbed of its sculp-
ture and cruelly mutilated. A glimpse at the
interior, which has been scraped and renovated,
will show at once the fine architecture. The
nave has impressive round pillars, windows in
the clerestory, and excellent brick vaulting.
The vaulted aisles are surrounded by chapels.
The choir is very handsome. In the north
transept is a famous but overrated * Cruci-
fixion by Van Dyck, not without beauty of con-
ception and composition, but spoiled by
restorations. Walk round the transepts and
ambulatory. There are some good works of
the School of Rubens.
Now, continue along the quay, on the same
148 Belgium: Its Cities
side as St. Michel (observing as you go that
the early town extended to both banks of the
river), in order to view the fagade of the hand-
some '' Maison des Bateliers," or Guild House
of the Skippers, erected in 1531 for the masters
of the shipping of Ghent, in somewhat the same
florid late-Gothic style as the H6tel-de-Ville.
This is the finest existing specimen of old
Flemish houses. Over the doorway is an appro-
priate relief of a ship, somewhat antiquated
and heraldic in character. By the side of this
Guild-house are two others, less interesting:
the first, the Guild-house of the Grain Meas-
urers; the next, very old and dilapidated,
the Staple House of Corn, Romanesque, said
to be the earliest civil building in Belgium.
Several fine gable-ends are seen to the left, in-
cluding one with Renaissance architecture, on
this side of the Lys. At the moment of writing,
the houses next to the Skippers' Guild are in
course of demolition, exposing a bare side of
the old Hall most unpicturesquely.
Now, retrace your steps over the Bridge, and
through the Corn Market, almost wholly
modernized, with the exception of a few gabled
houses.
The Core of Ghent 149
The next little square at which we arrive is
the Marche aux Herbes. Its west side is oc-
cupied by the ancient but uninteresting Grande
Boucherie. Turn to the left by the corner of
the Boucherie, with Our Lady and Child in a
niche, and cross the bridge to the other side of
the Lys. On the left are two handsome old
houses. In front rise the gateway and bastions
of the Oudeburg, or Castle of the Princes.
This was the primitive palace of the Counts
of Flanders in Ghent. The irregular little
square in front of it is known as the Place Ste.
Pharailde. The castle has recently been cleared
from the numerous modern houses which en-
cumbered and hid it. The first stronghold on
this site was erected in 868. The existing
ruins of the gateway, with round Romanesque
arches, date back to 1180; the square keep
behind is of the tenth century. In this palace
Jacob van Artevelde entertained Edward III.
When Edward returned to England, he left
Queen Philippa here, and during his absence
she bore, in the Monastery of St. Bavon, her
third son, John of Gaunt, who took his well-
known surname from the place of his birth.
It was on Edward's return to Flanders, ac-
1 50 Belgium : Its Cities
companied by the ladies of Philippa's suite,
that he found the French fleet drawn up near
Sluys to prevent his entry into the port of
Bruges, on which occasion he gained the first
great English naval victory. The Castle,
which is now in course of partial restoration,
is closely bound up with the greatness of Van
Artevelde and the heroic period in the history
of Ghent.
Walk round it to note its extent and its
commanding position at the point where the
bridge crosses the Lys to the main part of the
town.
The opposite corner of the Place Ste. Phar-
ailde has a Renaissance gateway, reerected in
imitation of the original by Arthus Quellin,
and adorned with sculptures of Neptune, the
Schelde, and the Lys, the sources of Ghent's
greatness. It leads to the Fish-market.
Around are several good old houses.
Continue along the quay on the same side
of the river as the Oudeburg, as far as the
Pont du Laitage, just before reaching which
you pass on your left two seventeenth century
houses with reliefs (the Works of Charity,
a Flying Hart, etc.). Cross the bridge and
The Core of Ghent 151
turn to the right as far as the big cannon,
known as " Dulle Griete " or " Mad Margaret,"
dating back to the fourteenth century. By the
touch-hole are the Cross of St. Andrew and
the arms of Phihppe le Bon of Burgundy.
Turn into the large square in front of you.
The building, with a tower at the corner and
high gables, which faces you at the end of
the street as you advance, is one of the best
old mediaeval houses in Ghent, the Collacie-
Zolder, or Municipal Council-Room, of the
thirteenth or fourteenth century. It has an
interesting little pulpit or balcony at its corner,
with a bell, from which addresses could be
made to the people. The towers that face you
a little to the left are those of St. Jacques, to
be visited presently.
Continue into the square, at the corner of
which is the Municipal Council-Room. This
is the Vrydagmarkt or Marche du Vendredi,
in which a strikingly picturesque market is
still held every Friday morning. If possible,
visit it. The square was the forum of old
Ghent and the meeting-place of the citizens.
A few fine old buildings in the native local
style still surround it. The centre is appro-
152 Belgium: Its Cities
priately occupied by a modern colossal statue
of Jacob van Artevelde, addressing the cit-
izens in his famous speech when he excited
them to opposition to the Count of Flanders
with his Gallicizing policy. At the base are
allegorical figures of Flanders, and of the
Belgian towns, wearing mural crowns. The
reliefs represent Van Artevelde's three chief
diplomatic triumphs, — the League of Ghent
with Bruges and Ypres ; the League of Flan-
ders and England; the League of Flanders,
Brabant, and Hainault. In this square the
most important events in the history of early
Flanders took place. Here the citizens of
Ghent took the oath of allegiance to each new
count on his accession, after they had com-
pelled him to swear in good old Teutonic style
" to uphold and see upheld all the standing
wits (laws), fore-rights (regulations), free-
hoods, and wonts of the Countship and town
of Ghent." The guilds which had their halls
around met here to oppose arbitrary action
on the part of their sovereign. Here, too,
the parties within the town itself frequently
joined issue in civil contest. In later times,
the Duke of Alva perpetrated most of his
The Core of Ghent 153
shameful executions on this spot. The site
of the statue of Van Artevelde was originally
occupied by one of Charles V., who was born
in Ghent, in a palace now destroyed, and whose
history is intimately connected with this town,
always one of his principal residences. The
statue was destroyed in 1794 by the French
invaders. The picture is in the Museum.
Turn up at the corner by the Municipal
Council-Room and take the first street to the
left, which leads you into the Place St. Jacques,
occupied by the Church of St. Jacques. The
faqade, with the two towers, was Romanesque,
but has been restored in such a wholesale way
as to destroy its interest. The remainder of the
church is Gothic. Walk round it so as to ob-
serve its features, noticing in particular the
quaint stone spire of the right-hand tower.
The interior might be good, were it not spoiled
by tawdry decorations. The pulpit has a mar-
ble figure of the patron, St. James, with the
pilgrim's staff and gourd, emblematic of his
connection with the great place of pilgrimage
of Santiago de Compostella. The vaulting
has been freed from excrescences, and is
excellent of its kind. The High Altar has
154 Belgium: Its Cities
a figure of St. James above, and a painting
of his martyrdom beneath.
This walk will have led you through the
principal part of early Ghent. Hence you may
return either by the Cathedral or by the chief
line of business streets which runs direct from
the Pont du Laitage to the modern Palais de
Justice and the Place d'Armes.
CHAPTER XII.
THE CATHEDRAL OF GHENT
THE local patron saint of Ghent is St.
Bavon, a somewhat dubious personage,
belonging to the first age of Christianity in
Flanders, of whom little is known. Legend
describes him as a " Duke of Brabant " in the
seventh century (of course an anachronism).
He seems to have been a nobleman of Hesbaie
who spent his life as a soldier " and in worldly
pleasures ; " but when he was fifty, his wife
died, and, overwhelmed with grief, he gave up
all his possessions to be distributed among the
poor, and entered a cell or monastery in Ghent,
of which St. Amand (see later) was the
founder. Of this he became abbot. At last,
finding the monastic life not sufficiently aus-
tere, the new saint took refuge in a hollow
tree in a forest, and there spent the remainder
of his days. His emblem is a falcon. The
156 Belgium : Its Cities
monastery of St. Bavon long existed at Ghent ;
some of its ruins still remain, and will be de-
scribed hereafter. To this local saint, accord-
ingly, it might seem fitting that the Cathedral
of Ghent should be dedicated. But in reality
the building was at first a parish church under
the invocation of St. John the Baptist, and only
received the relics and name of St. Bavon after
1540, when Charles V. destroyed the monas-
tery, as will be described hereafter.
The real interest of the Cathedral centres,
however, not in St. Bavon, nor in his picture
by Rubens, but in the great polyptych of the
Adoration of the Lamb, the masterpiece of
Jan van Eyck and his brother Hubert, which
forms in a certain sense the point of departure
for the native art of the Netherlands. This is
therefore a convenient place in which to con-
sider the position of these two great painters.
They were born at Maaseyck or Eyck-sur-
Meuse near Maastricht; Hubert, the elder,
about 1360 or 1370; Jan, the younger, about
1390. The only undoubted work of Hubert
is the altar-piece in St. Bavon, and even this
is only his in part, having been completed after
his death by his brother Jan. Hubert probably
The Cathedral of Ghent 157
derived his teaching from the School of the
Lx)wer Rhine, which first in the North at-
tained any importance, and which had its
chief exponents at Maastricht and Cologne.
Of this School, he was the final flower. Though
not, as commonly said, the inventor of oil-
painting, he was the first artist who employed
the process in its developed form, and he also
made immense advances in naturalness of
drawing and truth of spirit. Jan was probably
a pupil of Hubert ; he lived at Ghent while the
great picture of the Adoration of the Lamb
was still being completed ; later, he was painter
by appointment to the court of the Dukes of
Burgundy, and had a house at Bruges, where
he died in 1440. He was also employed on
various missions abroad, accompanying embas-
sies as far as to Portugal. His painting,
though less ideal and beautiful than that of
his great successor Meiuling, is marvellous in
its truth: it has an extraordinary charm of
purity of colour, vividness of delineation, and
fine portrayal of character. Indeed, all the
early Flemish artists were essentially portrait
painters ; they copied with fidelity whatever
was set before them, whether it were fabrics.
158 Belgium: Its Cities
furniture, jewelry, flowers, or the literal faces
and figures of men and women.
Hubert and Jan van Eyck, however, were
not so much in strictness the founders of a
school as the culminating point of early Ger-
man art, to which they gave a new Flemish
direction. Their work was almost, perfect in
its own kind. Their successors did not sur-
pass them: in some respects they even fell
short of them.
The Adoration of the Lamb is by far the
most important thing to be seen at Ghent.
But it is viewed at some disadvantage in the
church, and is so full of figures and meaning
that it cannot be taken in without long study.
I strongly advise you, therefore, to buy a photo-
graph of the entire composition beforehand,
and try to understand as much as possible of
the picture by comparing it with the account
here given, the evening before you visit the
picture. You will then be able more readily to
grasp the actual work, in form and colour,
when you see it.
The Cathedral is open daily (for viewing
the pictures, etc. ) from ten to twelve, and from
four to six. Between twelve and four you can
The Cathedral of Ghent 159
also get in by knocking loudly on the dcx>r in
the West Front.
Go straight from your hotel to the Cathedral,
— built as the parish church of St. John about
1250 — 1300; rededicated to St. Bavon, 1540;
erected into a bishop's see, 1 599. Stand before
the West Front at a little distance, to examine
the simple but massive architecture of the
tower and facade.
The great portal has been robbed of the
statues which once adorned its niches. Three
have been " restored : " they represent, centre,
the Saviour; left, the patron, St. Bavon, rec-
ognizable by his falcon, his sword as duke, and
his book as monk; he wears armour, with a
ducal robe and cap above it; right, St. John
the Baptist, the earlier patron.
Then, walk, to the right, round the south
side, to observe the external architecture of
the nave, aisles, and choir. The latter has the
characteristic rounded or apsidal termination
of Continental Gothic, whereas English Gothic
has usually a square end. Enter by the south
portal.
The interior, with single aisles and short
transepts (early Gothic), is striking for its
i6o Belgium: Its Cities
simple dignity, its massive pillars, and its high
arches, though the undeniably noble effect of
the whole is somewhat marred to English eyes
by the unusual appearance of the unadorned
brick walls and vaulting. The pulpit, by Del-
vaux (1745), partly in oak, partly in marble,
represents Truth revealing the Christian Faith
to astonished Paganism (figured as an old
and outworn man) : it is a model of all that
should be avoided in plastic or religious art.
The screen which separates the Choir from the
Transepts is equally unfortunate. The apsidal
end of the Choir, however, with its fine modern
stained glass, forms a very pleasing feature
in the general coup d'cril.
Begin the examination in detail with the left
or north aisle. The first chapel, that of the
Holy Cross, contains a Pieta by Janssens and a
Descent from the Cross by Rombouts, good
works of the school of Rubens. The third
chapel, that of St. Macarius or St. Macaire
(an object of local worship whom we shall
meet again elsewhere at Ghent), has a modern
statue of the saint, and a pleasing decoration
in polychrome. The right or south aisle has
nothing of importance.
PULPIT OF THE CATHEDRAL, GHENT.
The Cathedral of Ghent i6i
A short flight of stq)s leads to the ambula-
tory, whose black and white marble screen, on
the side toward the Choir, is not without
dignity.
The sacristan opens the locked chapels in the
ambulatory (flamboyant), beginning at the
steps on the right or south side of the Choir.
You will find him in the sacristy, in the north
Transept. Do not let him hurry you.
The first chapel contains a tolerable triptych
by F. Pourbus (son of Peter), with the Find-
ing of Christ in the Temple for its central sub-
ject and the Circumcision and Baptism on the
inner wings. Notice in the last the conven-
tional attitudes of the Baptist, the Saviour, and
the angel with the towel, as in the Gerard
David and all old examples of this subject : but
the semi-nude figure undressing in the fore-
ground is an unhappy innovation of the Re-
naissance. Many of the heads in the central
picture are portraits : Alva, Charles V., Philip
II., and Pourbus himself. On the outer wings
is a good * portrait of the donor (Viglius)
adoring the Saviour (1571).
Third chapel. Crucifixion, by Gerard van
der Meire, of Ghent. On the left wing, Moses
1 62 Belgium: Its Cities
striking the Rock, symbolical of the fountain
of living water, Christ. On the right wing,
the Elevation of the Brazen Serpent, symbolical
of the Crucifixion. This is a mystic " typical "
picture, interesting only for its symbolism.
Note the Flemish love of such subjects.
The fourth chapel contains a good tomb of
Cornelius Jansen and Willem Lindau, the two
first bishops of Ghent (bishopric founded only
in 1599) with fair recumbent figures of the
early seventeenth century.
Fifth chapel. Coxcie. Lazarus and Dives :
a mediocre picture.
Mount the steps to the upper ambulatory.
The sixth chapel (of the Vydts family) con-
tains the famous altar-piece of the ** Adora-
tion of the Lamb, by Hubert and Jan van Eyck,
to study which is the chief object of a visit to
Ghent. See it more than once, and examine
it carefully. Ask the sacristan to let you sit
before it for some time in quiet, or he will
hurry you on. You must observe it in close
detail.
As a whole, the work before you is not
entirely by the two Van Eycks. The Adam
and Eve on the outer upper shutters of the
The Cathedral of Ghent 163
interior (originally by Hubert) have been al-
together removed, and are now in the Museum
at Brussels, where we shall see them in due
course. Their place has been filled, not by
copies (for the originals were nude), but by
skin-clad representations of the same figures,
whose nudity seemed to the Emperor Joseph
II. unsuitable for a church. The lower wings,
which were principally (it is believed) by Jan
van Eyck, have also been removed, and sold
to Berlin. They are replaced by very tolerable
copies, made in the early sixteenth century by
Michael Coxcie. Thus, to form an idea of the
detail of the original in its full totality, it is
necessary to visit, not only Ghent, but also
Brussels and Berlin. Nevertheless, I describe
the whole picture here as it stands, as this is
the best place to observe its general composi-
tion. I shall say a few words later as to
variations of this work from the original.
There is a good copy of the whole picture in
the Museum at Antwerp, where you will be
able to inspect it at greater length and under
easier conditions. The remaining portions of
the original still left here are believed to be
for the most part the work of Hubert van
164 Belgium: Its Cities
Eyck. Jan must rather be studied in many
scattered places, — Bruges, Brussels, Berlin,
Paris, Madrid, and London.
The altar-piece was commissioned from
Hubert van Eyck by Josse Vydts ( Latinised as
Jodocus), a gentleman of Ghent, and his wife,
Isabella, about the year 1420. Hubert died
while the polyptych was still unfinished, and
Jan completed it in 1432. Too much impor-
tance has been attached by critics, I fancy, to
the rhyming hexameter inscribed upon it ( with
the words " De Eyck " unmetrically intro-
duced) : " Pictor Hubertus major quo nemo
repertus," etc. They have been twisted into
a deliberate expression of belief on the part of
Jan that Hubert was a greater painter than him-
self. If so, it seems to me, Jan was a worse
critic than painter. They are probably due,
however, to a somewhat affected modesty, or
more probably still, to a priestly poet who was
in straits to find a rhyme for Hubertus.
I proceed to a detailed explanation of the
picture.
The subject, in its entirety, is the Adoration
of the Lamb that was Slain, and it is mainly
based on the passage in the Apocalypse : " I
u
The Cathedral of Ghent 165
looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount
Zion, and with Him an hundred and forty and
four thousand, having His Father's name writ-
ten in their foreheads. . . . And I heard the
voice of harpers harping with their harps."
Elsewhere we read : " I beheld, and, lo, a great
multitude, which no man could number, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands.
. . . These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God ;
and He shall feed them, and shall lead them to
living fountains of waters, and shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes." Much of the
imagery, however, I believe, is also taken from
the Te Deum.
Lower Tier.
The central panel (original: attributed to
Hubert) represents in its middle the altar,
hung with red damask, and covered with a
white cloth, on which the Lamb of God is
standing. His blood flows into a crystal
chalice. (This part is clearly symbolical of the
Eucharist.) Upon Him, from above, descends
the Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, sent out
1 66 Belgium : Its Cities
by the Eternal Father, who occupies the central
panel on top. Around the altar are grouped
adoring angels, with many-coloured wings,
holding the instruments of the Passion — the
Cross, the Spear, the Sponge, and the Column
to which Christ was fastened for flagellation.
In front of it, two angels swing censers. The
flowery foreground is occupied by the Foun-
tain of Life, from which pure water flows
limpid, to irrigate the smiling fields of Para-
dise. Four bands of worshippers converge
toward this centre. On the left-hand side,
stand, kneel, or ride, a group of worshippers
representing, as a whole, the secular aspect of
the Christian Church — the laity. The fore-
ground of this group is occupied by the pre-
cursors of Christ. Conspicuous among them
the Jewish prophets in front and then the
Greek poets and philosophers, — Homer, Plato,
Aristotle, — whom mediaeval charity regarded
as inspired in a secondary degree by the Spirit
of Wisdom. Homer, in white, is crowned with
laurel. The group also includes kings and
other important secular personages. The
right-hand side, opposite, is occupied by repre-
sentatives of the Church, showing the religious
The Cathedral of Ghent 167
as opposed to the secular half of the Qiristian
world. In the front rank kneel fourteen per-
sons, the Twelve Apostles ( with Paul and Mat-
thias) in simple robes, barefooted; behind them
are ranged all the orders of the hierarchy —
canonized popes, with their attendant deacons;
archbishops, bishops, and other dignitaries.
The background shows two other groups,
one of which (to the left) consists of the mar-
tyrs, bearing their palms of martyrdom, and
including in their number popes, cardinals,
bishops, and other ecclesiastics. The inner
meaning of this group is further emphasized by
the symbolical presence of a palm-tree behind
them. To balance them on the right advance
the Virgins, conspicuous among whom are St.
Agnes with her lamp, St. Barbara with her
tower, St. Catherine, and St. Dorothy with her
roses : many of them carry palms of martyr-
dom. These various groups thus illustrate the
words of the Te Deum, representing " the glori-
ous company of the apostles," " the goodly
fellowship of the prophets," " the noble army
of martyrs," " the Holy Church throughout all
the world," etc., in. adoration of the Lamb that
1 68 Belgium : Its Cities
was Slain. (A chorus of Apostles, of Proph-
ets, of Martyrs, of Virgins is common in art.)
The more distant background is occupied by
towered cities, typifying perhaps the new
Jerusalem, but adorned with Flemish or Rhen-
ish turrets and domes, and painted with Flem-
ish minuteness and exactitude.
On the front of the altar are written in Latin
the words, " Behold the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sins of the world."
The Left Wings (inferior copy by Coxcie:
originals, probably by Jan, now at Berlin)
form a continuation of the scene of the Prophets
and the secular side of Christendom in the
central panel, and represent, in the First or
Inner Half, the Orders of Chivalry and the
mediaeval knighthood riding, as on a crusade
or pilgrimage, toward the Lamb that was Slain.
At their head go the soldier saints, St. George,
St. Adrian, St. Maurice, and St. Charlemagne
(for the great emperor Karl is also a canonized
person). The action of the horses throughout
is admirable. The Second or Outer Half (ill
described as " the Just Judges ") represents
the Merchants and Burgesses, among whom
two portraits in the foreground are pointed out
The Cathedral of Ghent 169
by tradition as those of Hubert and Jan van
Eyck (Hubert in front, on a white horse:
Jan behind, in a dark brown dress, trimmed
with fur). But this detail is unimportant:
what matters is the colour and composition on
one hand, the idea on the other. These two
panels, therefore, with the group in front of
them, are to be taken as representing the Secu-
lar World — learned, noble, knightly, or mer-
cantile — in adoration of the central truth of
Christianity as manifested in the Holy Eucha-
rist.
The corresponding Right Wings (copy by
Coxcie: originals, probably by Jan, at Berlin)
show respectively the Hermits and Pilgrims
— the contemplative and ascetic complement of
the ecclesiastical group in front of them : the
monastic as opposed to the beneficed clerics.
The First or Inner Half shows the Eremites,
amongst whom are notable St. Anthony with
his crutch, and, in the background, St. Mary
Magdalen with her box of ointment, emerging
from her cave (the Sainte Baume), in Pro-
vence, in her character as the Penitent in the
Desert. On the Second or Outer Half, the body
of Pilgrims is led by the gigantic form of St.
lyo Belgium: Its Cities
Christopher, with his staff and bare legs for
wading; behind whom is a pilgrim with a
scallop-shell, and many other figures, not all
of them (to me) identifiable. Here again the
presence of palms in the background marks the
esoteric idea of martyrdom.
I need not call attention throughout to the
limpid sky, the fleecy clouds, the lovely trees,
the exquisite detail of architecture and land-
scape.
Upper tier.
The three central panels (original) are at-
tributed to Hubert. That in the middle repre-
sents, not (I feel sure) as is commonly said,
Christ, but God the Father ( " Therefore they
are before the throne of God ") wearing the
triple crown (like the Pope), holding the
sceptre, and with his right hand raised in the
attitude of benediction. His face is majestic,
grave, passionless : his dress kingly : a gor-
geous morse fastens his jewelled robe of regal
red. At his feet lies the crown of earthly sov-
ereignty. He seems to discharge the Holy
Ghost on the Lamb beneath himi. The word
Sabaoth, embroidered on his garments, marks
him, I think, as the Father : indeed, the Son
H. AND J. VAN EYCK. — GOD THE FATHER
(Detail from the Adoration of the Lamb).
The Cathedral of Ghent 171
could hardly preside at the sacrifice of the
Lamb, even in the Eucharist.
On the right of the Father, in the panel to
the spectator's left (Hubert: original), Our
Lady, crowned, as Queen of Heaven, sits read-
ing in her blue robe. Her face is far more
graceful than is usual in Flemish art: indeed,
she is the most charming of Flemish Madon-
nas. Behind her is stretched a hanging of fine
brocade.
The panel to the right (Hubert: original)
shows St. John the Baptist, with his camel-hair
garment, covered by a flowing green mantle.
The folds of all these draperies in Hubert's
three figures, though simple, have great gran-
deur.
The Outer Wing to the left (substituted
clothed figure, not a copy : original, by Hubert,
at Brussels) has Adam, as typical (with Eve)
of unregenerate humanity: a sense further
marked by the Offerings of Cain and Abel
above it.
The Outer Wing to the right has an Eve with
the apple (similarly clad, not copied from the
original, by Hubert, now at Brussels) : above
it, the First Murder.
172 Belgium: Its Cities
The Inner Left Wing (copy : the original, at-
tributed to Jan, is at Berlin) has a beautiful
■group of singing angels.
The inner right wing (copy: the original,
likewise attributed to Jan, is also at Berlin)
has an angel (not St. Cecilia) playing an
organ, with other angels accompanying on
various musical instruments.
Taking it in its entirety, then, the altar-
piece, when opened, is a great mystical poem
of the Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the Lamb,
with the Christian folk, both Church and
World, adoring. It was in order to prepare
your mind for recognition of this marked strain
of mysticism in the otherwise prosaic and prac-
tical Flemish temperament, that I called your
attention at Bruges to several mystic or type-
emphasizing pictures, in themselves of com-
paratively small aesthetic value.
The composition contains over two hundred
figures. Many of them, which I have not here
identified, can be detected by a closer inspec-
tion, which, however, I will leave to the reader.
Now, ask the sacristan to shut the wings.
They are painted on the outer side (all a copy)
mainly in grisaille, or in very low tones of
H. AND J. VAN EYCK. — SINGING ANGELS
(Detail from the Adoration of the Lamb).
The Cathedral of Ghent 173
colour, as is usual in such cases, so as to
allow the jewel-like brilliancy of the internal
picture to burst upon the observer the moment
the altar-piece is opened.
The lower wings have (in this copy) repre-
sentations of the Four Evangelists, in niches,
in imitation of statuary. Observe the half-
classical pose and costume of Luke, the Beloved
Physician. These figures, however, were not
so arranged in the original, as I shall after-
ward explain.
The upper wings represent on their first or
lowest tier, the Annunciation, a frequent sub-
ject for such divided shutters. In the centre
is the usual arcade, giving a glimpse of the
town of Ghent where Hubert painted it.
(The scene is said to be Hubert's own studio,
which stood on the site of the Cafe des Ar-
cades in the Place d'Armes : the view is that
which he saw from his own windows.) To
the left, as always, is the angel Gabriel, with the
Annunciation lily; to the right is Our Lady,
reading. The Dove descends upon her head.
The ordinary accessories of furniture are pres-
ent — prie-dieu, curtain, bed-chamber, etc.
Note this arrangement of the personages of the
1 74 Belgium : Its Cities
Annunciation, with the empty space between
Our Lady and the angel : it will recur in many
other pictures. Observe also the Flemish real-
ism of the painter, who places the scene in his
own town at his own period : and contrast
it with the mysticism of the entire conception.
The uppermost tier of all is occupied by
figures of two Sibyls (universally believed in
the Middle Ages to have prophesied of Christ),
as well as two half-length figures of the
prophets Zachariah and Micah (also as fore-
tellers of the Virgin birth).
In several details the outer shutters in this
copy differ markedly from the originals at
Berlin. Jan's picture had, below, outer panels
(when shut), portraits of Josse Vydts and his
wife: inner panels, imitated statues (in
grisaille) of St. John the Baptist and St. John
the Evangelist, patrons at that time of this
church. If you are going on to Berlin, you
will see them : if back to London, then go to
the Basement Floor of the National Gallery,
w^here you will find the water-colour copy done
for the Arundel Society, which will give you
an excellent idea of the work in its original
condition.
The Cathedral of Ghent 175
A few words must be given to the external
history of this great altar-piece. It was begun
by Hubert about 1420. His death in 1426
interrupted the work. Jan probably continued
to paint at it till 1428, when he went to Portu-
gal. On his return, he must have carried it to
Bruges, where he next lived, and there com-
pleted it in 1432. It was then placed in this
the family chapel of Josse Vydts. During the
troubles of the Reformation it was carried to
the H6tel-de-Ville, but after the capitulation to
the Duke of Parma it was restored to the
chapel of the Vydts family. Philip II. wished
to carry it ofT, but had to content himself with
a copy by Coxcie, the wings of which are now
in this chapel. The panels with Adam and
Eve were removed in 1784, after Joseph II. had
disapproved of them, and hidden in the sacristy.
In 1794, the remaining panels were carried to
Paris : after the peace, they were returned, but
only the central portions were replaced in the
chapel. The wings, save Adam and Eve, were
sold to a Brussels dealer, and finally bought
by the King of Prussia, which accounts for
their presence at Berlin. As for Adam and
Eve, the church exchanged them with the Brus-
1 76 Belgium : Its Cities
sels Museum for the wings of Coxcie's copy.
These various vicissitudes will explain the
existing condition of the compound picture.
Do not be content with seeing it once. Go
home, re-read this description, and come again
to study it afresh to-morrow.
The chapel of the Holy Sacrament, in the
apse, has very ugly rococo monuments to
bishops of the eighteenth century, in the worst
style of the debased Renaissance, and other
monstrosities.
The tenth chapel has a famous * altar-piece
by Rubens, St. Bavon renouncing his worldly
goods to embrace the monastic life. The Saint
is seen, attired as a Duke of Brabant of the
seventeenth century, in his armour and ducal
robes, attended by his pages, making his pro-
fession at the door of a stately Renaissance
church, such as certainly did not exist in the
North in his time, and received with acclama-
tion by a dignified body of nobly-robed ecclesi-
astics, including St. Amand (see later, under
the monastery of St. Bavon). The features of
the patron saint are said to be those of Rubens ;
they certainly resemble his portrait of himself
at Florence. The foreground is occupied by a
RUBENS. — CONVERSION OF ST. BAVON.
The Cathedral of Ghent 177
group of poor, to whom St. Bavon's worldly
goods are being profusely scattered. On the
left are two ladies, in somewhat extrava-
gant courtly costumes, who are apparently
moved to follow the Saint's example. They are
said to be the painter's two wives, but the re-
semblance to their known portraits is feeble.
This is a fine specimen of Rubens's grandiose
and princely manner, of his feeling for space,
and of his large sense of colour; but it is
certainly not a sacred picture. It was appro-
priately painted for the High Altar in the
Choir (1624), after the church was dedicated
to St. Bavon and erected into a cathedral, but
was removed from that place of honour in the
eighteenth century to make room for a vulgar
abomination by Verbruggen. (I defer con-
sideration of Rubens and his school till we
reach Brussels and Antwerp.) Fair monument
of a seventeenth century bishop.
Descend the steps again. Enter the choir,
a very fine piece of architecture, cleared of the
monstrosities of the last century : it has beauti-
ful gray stone arches (about 1300), a hand-
some triforium, and excellent brick vaulting.
The lower portion, however, is still disfigured
178 Belgium; Its Cities
by black-and-white marble screens and several
incongruous rococo tombs, some of which have
individual merit. (That to the left, Bishop
Triest by Duquesnoy, is excellent in its own
style) . Over the High Altar flutters a peculiarly
annoying and fly-away seventeenth century
figure of the Apotheosis of St. Bavon, the
patron saint of the Cathedral, who of course
thus occupies the place of honour. It is by
Verbruggen. The huge copper candlesticks,
bearing the royal arms of England, as used
by Charles I., belonged to his private oratory
in Old St. Paul's in London, and were sold by
order of Cromwell. Impressive view down the
nave from this point.
Tip the sacristan at the rate of one franc per
head of your party.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE OUTSKIRTS OF GHENT
OLD Ghent occupied for the most part the
island which extends from the Palais de
Justice on one side to the Botanical Gardens
on the other. This island, bounded by the
Lys, the Schelde, and an ancient canal, includes
almost all the principal buildings of the town,
such as the Cathedral, St. Nicolas, the Hotel-
de-Ville, the Belfry, and St. Jacques, as well
as the chief Places, such as the Marche aux
Grains, the Marche aux Herbes, and the
Marche du Vendredi. It also extended beyond
the Lys to the little island on which is situated
the church of St. Michel, and again to the
islet -formed between the Lieve and the Lys,
which contains the chateau of the counts and
the Place Ste. Pharailde.
In the latter Middle Ages, however, the town
had spread to nearly its existing extreme di-
179
1 80 Belgium : Its Cities
mensions, and was probably more populous
than at the present moment. But its ancient
fortifications have been destroyed, and their
place has been taken by boulevards and canals.
The line may still be traced on the map, or
walked round through a series of shipping
suburbs; but it is uninteresting to follow, a
great part of its course lying through the more
squalid portions of the town. The only re-
maining gate is that known as the Rabot
(1489), a very interesting and picturesque
object, situated in a particularly slummy
quarter. It can best be reached by crossr-
ing the bridge near the church of St. Michel,
and continuing along the Rue Haute to the
Boulevard du Beguinage (where stood origi-
nally the Grand Beguinage, whose place is now
occupied by modern streets). Turn then
along the boulevard to the right till you reach
the gate, which consists of two curious round
towers, enclosing a high and picturesque gable-
end. Owing to the unpleasant nature of the
walk, I do not recommend this excursion.
The south quarter of the town, beyond the
Cathedral and St. Nicolas, has been much
modernized during the last two centuries. Its
The Outskirts of Ghent i8l
only interesting points are the recent Palais de
Justice and the Kouter or Place d'Armes
(once the archery ground), in which a pretty
flower-market is held on Friday and Sunday
mornings. The Cafe des Arcades, at its east
end, occupies the site of Hubert van Eyck's
studio.
The rest of the inner town contains little that
throws light on its origin or history.
There is, however, one small excursion which
it would be well for those to take who have
a morning to spare, and who desire to under-
stand the development of Ghent — I mean to
the Monastery of St. Bavon, which alone re-
calls the first age of the city. Every early
mediaeval town had outside its walls a ring
of abbeys and monasteries, and Ghent was par-
ticularly rich in this respect.
St. Amand was the apostle of Flanders and
the surrounding countries. He was sent by the
pious King Dagobert to convert the Flemings
en Hoc, and is said to have built, about 630,
a little cell by the bank of the Lys, northeast
of the modem city. In 65 1 , St. Bavon entered
this infant monastery, which henceforth took
his name. The abbey grew to be one of the
1B2 Belgium: Its Cities
most important in Flanders, and occupied a
large area on the northeast of the town, near
the Antwerp Gate. Eginhard, the biographer
and son-in-law of Charlemagne, was abbot in
the ninth century. The Counts of Flanders had
rights of hospitality at St. Bavon's; hence
it was here, and not in the Oudeburg, as usually
stated, that Queen Philippa gave birth to John
of Gaunt. In 1539, however, Charles V., that
headstrong despot, ' angry at the continual re-
sistance of his native town to his arbitrary
wishes, dissolved the monastery in the high-
handed fashion of the sixteenth century, in
order to build a citadel on the spot. As com-
pensation for disturbance to the injured saint,
he transported the relics of St. Bavon to what
was then the parish church of St. John, which
has ever since borne the name of the local
patron. Around the dismantled ruins, the
Emperor erected a great fort, afterward
known as the Spaniards' Castle (Chateau des
Espagnols, or Het Spanjaards Kasteel). This
gigantic citadel occupied a vast square space,
still traceable in the shape of the modern
streets; but no other relic of it now remains.
The ruins of the abbey are in themselves in-
RUINS OF THE ABBEY OF ST. BAVON, GHENT.
The Outskirts of Ghent 183
considerable, but they are certainly picturesque
and well worth a visit from those who are
spending some days in Ghent. The hurried
tourist may safely neglect them.
The direct route from the Place d'Armes
to the abbey is by the Quai du Bas Escaut,
and the Rue Van Eyck. A pleasanter route,
however, is by the Rue de Brabant and the Rue
Digue de Brabant to the Place d'Artevelde,
passing through the handsomest part of the
modern town. (In the Place itself stands the
fine modern Romanesque Church of St. Anne,
the interior of which is sumptuously decorated
in imitation of mosaic.) ThencCj follow the
Quai Porte aux Vaches to the Place Van Eyck,
Cross the bridges over the Upper and Lower
Schelde, and the abbey lies straight in front
of you.
Walk past the ivy-clad outer wall of the
ruins to the white house at the corner of the
street beyond it, where you will find the con-
cierge (notice above the door). One franc
is sufficient tip for a party. The concierge
conducts you over the building, which has a
picturesque cloister, partly Romanesque, but
mainly fifteenth century. The centre of th^
184 Belgium: Its Cities
quadrangle is occupied by a pretty and neatly-
kept garden of the old sweet-scented peasant
flowers of Flanders. The most interesting part
of the ruins, however, is the octagonal Roman-
esque baptistery or " Chapel of St. Macaire,'"
a fine piece of early vaulting, with round arches,
very Byzantine in aspect. The chapel rests
on massive piers, and its Romanesque arches
contrast prettily with the transitional Gothic
work of the cloister in the neighbourhood.
Within are several fragments of Romanesque
sculpture, particularly some * capitals of col-
umns, with grotesque and naive representations
of Adam and Eve with the Lord in the Garden,
and other similar biblical subjects. (Examine
closely.) There is likewise an interesting re-
lief of St. Amand preaching the Gospel in
Flanders, and a man-at-arms in stone, of Arte-
velde's period, removed from the old coping
of the belfry.
We next go on to the crypt, the tombs of the
monks, the monastery cellars, etc., where are
collected many pieces of ancient sculpture, some
found in the ruins and others brought from
elsewhere. The refectory at the end, which
for some time served as the Church of St.
The Outskirts of Ghent 185
Macaire, is now in course of transformation
into a local Museum of Monumental Art. It
contains some good old tombs, and an early
fresco (of St. Louis?) almost obliterated. But
the garden and cloister are the best of the
place, and make together a very pretty picture.
You can return by the Quai and the Rue St.
Georges, or by the Place St. Bavon and the
Arch i episcopal Palace. (The castellated build-
ing to the left, much restored, near the cathe-
dral, known as the Steen of Gerard le Diable,
is the sole remaining example of the mediaeval
fortified houses in Ghent.)
Another monastery, a visit to which will
lead you through the extensive southern por-
tion of the city, is the wholly modernized Bene-
dictine Abbey of St. Pierre (I do not recom-
mend it) . To reach it, you take the Rue Courte
du Jour and the Rue Neuve St. Pierre, to the
large square known as the Plaine St. Pierre,
partly obtained by demolition of the monastery
buildings. It is situated on rising ground,
which may pass for a hill in Flanders. This
is, in its origin, the oldest monastery in Ghent,
having been founded, according to tradition,
by St. Amand himself, in 630, on the site of
1 86 Belgium: Its Cities
an ancient temple of Mercury, The existing
buildings, however, hardly date in any part
beyond the seventeenth century. The Church
of Notre-Dame de St. Pierre was erected be-
tween 1629 and 1720, in the grandiose style
of the period. It is vast, and not unimposing.
The interior has a certain cold dignity. The
pictures are mostly of the School of Rubens,
many of them dealing with St. Peter and St.
Benedict; among them are good specimens.
The best, by De Crayer, shows the favourite
Benedictine subject of St. Benedict recogniz-
ing the envoy of King Totila, who personated
the king.
The Plaine de St. Pierre is used for the
amusing yearly fair, from Mi-Careme to
Easter.
The Museum of Painting (a small and un-
important gallery) is situated in part of an
old Augustinian monastery, which is reached
by the Oudeburg and the Rue Ste. Marguerite.
(Church by the side, full of Augustinian sym-
bols.) Open daily from nine to twelve, and
two to five, free. (I do not advise a visit,
unless you have plenty of time to spare.) The
Picture Gallery is on the second floor.
The Outskirts of Ghent 187
The rooms to the left contain modem Bel-
gian and French pictures, many of them pos-
sessing- considerable merit, but not of a sort
which enters into the scheme of these Guide-
books.
The rooms to the right of the staircase con-
tain the early pictures.
First room. F. Pourbus : A votive triptych
for recovery from sickness. In the centre,
Isaiah prophesying to Hezekiah his recovery.
On the wings, the Crucifixion, and the donor
with his patron, St. James. Outside the wings,
in grisaille, the Raising of Lazarus (in two
panels), giving a symbolical meaning to this
votive ofifering. On the wall beside it, several
tolerable pictures of the old Flemish School :
a good Ex Voto of a donor, with the Madonna
and Child, by an unknown artist; a writhing
Calvary, by Van Heemskerk; a Holy Family,
by De Vos ; and a quaint triptych of St. Anne
and her family, with her daughter, the Ma-
donna, and her grandchild, the Saviour, at her
feet. Around are grouped Joseph, Mary
Cleophas, Zebedee, Alpheus, Joachim, the hus-
band of Anna, and Mary Salome, with her
children, James and John. This queer old
1 88 Belgium: Its Cities
work, by an unknown artist^ is interesting for
comparison with the great Quentin Matsys,
which you will see at Brussels. St. Joseph
holds in his hand the rod that has flowered.
(See "Legends of the Madonna.")
Beneath this triptych are three interesting
portrait groups of husbands and wives, six-
teenth century. On the wings, a " Noli Me
Tangere " — Christ and the Magdalen in the
garden.
The second room has Dutch and Flemish
works of the seventeenth century, mostly self-
explanatory. The Last Judgment, by R.
Coxcie, shows a late stage of a subject which
we have already seen at Bruges, now reduced
to an opportunity for the display of exag-
gerated anatomical knowledge. There are
also several tolerable works of the School of
Rubens, many of which are interesting mainly
as showing the superiority of the Master to
all his followers. Rombouts, The Five Senses,
is, however, an excellent work of its own class.
The centre of the further wall is occupied by
a worthless picture of Duchastel's, represent-
ing the Inauguration of Charles IL of Spain
as Count of Flanders, in 1666, interesting
The Outskirts of Ghent 189
mainly as a view of old Ghent. The action
takes place in the Marche du Vendredi, the
centre of which is occupied by the statue of
Charles V., destroyed at the French Revolu-
tion. All round are the original picturesque
houses, with their high Flemish gable-ends.
On the right is the Church of St. Jacques,
much as at the present day. In front of the
Municipal Council Chamber a platform is
erected for the inauguration. The picture
gives a good idea of the splendour of Ghent,
even at the period of the Spanish domination.
Near it, Rubens's St. Francis receiving the
Stigmata, where the conventional elements ot
the crucified six-winged seraph, the rays pro-
ceeding from the five wounds to the saint's
hands, feet, and side, and the astonished
brother, Leo, in the distance, are all preserved,
though enormously transfigured. The colour
is unpleasing. This is almost a replica of the
work in the Cologne Museum. Rombouts —
tolerable Holy Family. Close by, some of
Hondekoeter's favourite birds, and Zeghers's
flowers. Over the door, a fine De Crayer. In
the centre of the room is a series of pictures
from the Gospel History, by F. Pourbus, with
190 Belgium : Its Cities
the Last Supper and donor at the back of one,
formerly a triptych.
The third room has pictures of the School
of Rubens, many of them of considerable merit,
particularly De Crayer's Coronation of St.
Rosalie and Vision of St. Augustine, in both
of which he approaches within a measurable
distance of the great master. His Judgment
of Solomon is also excellent. Some other
pictures in the room, however, exhibit the
theatrical tendency of the seventeenth century
in its worst form.
On the way back from the Picture Gallery,
you pass on your left the Rue Longue des
Pierres, down which, a little way on the right,
is a small museum of antiquities. I do not
advise a visit to this. It contains one good
brass, and some silver badges worn, by ambas-
sadors of Ghent, but otherwise consists, for
the most part, of third-rate bric-a-brac.
Most visitors to Ghent go to see the Grand
Beguinage. This was originally situated in
a little district by itself, close to the gate of
the Rabot, where its church, uninteresting
(dedicated, like that of Bruges, to St. Eliza-
beth of Hungary), still stands; but the site
The Outskirts of Ghent 191
has been occupied by the town for new streets.
The present Grand Beguinage lies on the road
to Antwerp. It is a Httle town in miniature,
enclosed by wall and moat, with streets and
houses all very neat and clean, but of no
archaeological interest. Yet it forms a pleasant
enough end for a short drive. And you can
buy lace there. The description in Baedeker
is amply sufficient.
Bruges is full of memories of the Burgun-
dian princes. At Ghent it is the personality
of Charles V., the great Emperor who cumu-
lated in his own person the sovereignties of
Germany, the Low Countries, Spain and Bur-
gundy, that meets us afresh at every turn.
He was born here in 1500, and baptized in
a font (otherwise uninteresting) which still
stands in the north transept of the Cathedral.
Ghent was really, for the greater part of his
life, his practical capital, and he never ceased
to be at heart a Ghenter. That did not prevent
the citizens from justly rebelling against him
in 1540, after the suppression of which revolt
Charles is said to have ascended the Cathedral
tower, while the executioner was putting to
death the ringleaders in the rebellion, in order
192 Belgium: Its Cities
to choose with his Brother Ferdinand the site
for the citadel he intended to erect, to over-
awe the freedom-loving city. He chose the
Monastery of St. Bavon as its site, and, as
we have seen^ built there his colossal fortress,
now wholly demolished. The Palace in which
he was born and which he inhabited frequently
during life, was known as the Cour du Prince.
It stood near the Ancien Grand Beguinage,
but only its name now survives in that of a
street.
The Spaniard's Castle was long the standing
menace to freedom in the Low Countries.
Within its precincts Egmont and Hoorn were
imprisoned in 1568 for several months before
their execution.
During the early Middle Ages, the Oude-
burg was the residence of the Counts of Flan-
ders in Ghent. Later on, its place as a royal
residence was taken by the Cour du Prince,
which was inhabited by Maximilian and his
wife, Mary of Burgundy, as well as by Phi-
lippe le Beau and Johanna of Spain, the par-
ents of Charles V. No direct memorials of
the great Emperor now exist in Ghent, but
mementoes of him crop up at every point in
the city.
CHAPTER XIV.
ORIGINS OF BRUSSELS
"DRUSSELS was in a certain sense the
^-^ ancient capital of Brabant, as Bruges and
Ghent were the ancient capitals of West and
East Flanders. It grew up (as early as the
eighth century) on the banks of the little
river Senne, whose course through its midst
is now masked by the modern Inner Boule-
vards, built on arches above the unseen stream.
The Senne is one of the numerous rivers which
flow into the Schelde, and the original town
clustered close round its banks, its centre being
marked by the Grand' Place and the church of
St. Nicolas. Unlike Bruges and Ghent, how-
ever, Brussels has always been rather an ad-
193
194 Belgium : Its Cities
ministrative than a commercial centre. It is
true, it had considerable trade in the Middle
Ages, as its fine H6tel-de-Ville and Guild
Houses still attest ; but it seems to have sprung
up round a villa of the Prankish kings, and
it owed at least as much to its later feudal
lords, the Counts of Louvain, afterward
Dukes of Brabant, and to their Burgimdian
successors, as to its mercantile position.
The Senne was never a very important river
for navigation, though, like most of the Bel-
gian waterways, it was ascended by light craft,
while a canal connected the town with the
Schelde and Antwerp : but the situation of
Brussels on the great inland trade route be-
tween Bruges or Ghent and Cologne gave it
a certain mercantile value. Bruges, Ghent,
Brussels, Louvain, Maastricht, and Aix-la-
Chapelle all formed stations on this important
route, and all owed to it a portion of their
commercial prestige.
The burgher town which was thus engaged
in trade and manufactures was Flemish in
speech and feeling, and lay in the hollow by
the river and the Grand' Place. But a lordly
suburb began to arise at an early date on the
Origins of Brussels 195
hill to eastward, where the Counts of Louvain
built themselves a mansion, surrounded by
those of the lesser nobility. After 1380, the
counts migrated here from too democratic
Louvain. Later on, in the fifteenth century,
the Dukes of Burgxmdy (who united the
sovereignty of Brabant with that of Flanders)
often held their court here, as the population
was less turbulent and less set upon freedom
than that of purely commercial and industrial
Bruges and Ghent. Thus the distinctive posi-
tion of Brussels as the aristocratic centre and
the seat of the court grew fixed. Again, the
Dukes of Burgundy were French in speech,
and surrounded themselves with French
knights and courtiers; to suit the sovereigns,
the local nobility also acquired the habit of
speaking French, which has gradually become
the language of one-half of Belgium. But
the people of the Old Town in the valley were,
and are still, largely Flemish in tongue, in
customs, in sympathies, and in aspect; while
the Inhabitants of the Montagne de la Cour
and the court quarter generally are French
in speech, in taste, and in manners. We will
trace in the sequel the gradual growth of
196 Belgium : Its Cities
Brussels from its nucleus by the river (the
Lower Town), up the side of the eastern hill
to the Palace district (the Upper Town), and
thence through the new Quartier Leopold and
the surrounding region to its modern exten-
sion far beyond the limits of the mediaeval
ramparts.
Choose an hotel in the airy and wholesome
Upper Town, as near as possible to the Park
or the Place Royale.
St. Michael the Archangel is the patron
saint of Brussels : he will meet you everywhere,
even on the lamp-posts. For the patroness, St.
Gudula, see under the Cathedral.
CHAPTER XV.
THE HEART OF BRUSSELS
THE nucleus of BrusselSj as of Paris, was
formed by an island, now no longer
existing. Round this islet ran two branches
of the little river Senne, at present obliterated
by the Inner Boulevards. Brussels, in short,
has denied its parentage; the Senne, which
is visible north and south of the Outer Boule-
vards, being covered over by arches within the
whole of the Inner City.
The centre of the island is marked by the
little Place St. Gery, which the reader need
not trouble to visit. Here, at the end of the
sixth century, St. Gery, Bishop of Cambrai
and apostle of Brabant, built a small chapel,
succeeded by a church, now demolished. The
true centre of Brussels, however, may be con-
veniently taken as the existing Bourse. Close
by, as the town grew, the Grand' Place or
197
198 Belgium : Its Cities
market-place was surrounded by noble mediae-
val and Renaissance buildings. To this centre
then, the real heart of Brussels in the Middle
Ages, we first direct ourselves.
Gro from your hotel to the Grand' Place. It
may be reached by either of two convenient
roads; from the Place Royale by the Mon-
tagne de la Cour and the Rue de la Madeleine,
or from the Park by the Montague du Pare
(which takes various names as it descends),
and the Galerie St. Hubert. Either route
brings you out at the end of the Galerie, whence
a short street to the left will land you at once
in the Grand' Place, undoubtedly the finest
square in Europe, and the only one which now
enables us to reconstruct in imagination the
other Grand's Places of Belgium and the
Rhine country.
The most conspicuous building in the Place,
with the tall tower and open spire, is the
H6tel-de-Ville, with one possible exception
(Louvain) the handsomest in Belgium. It
consists of a tapering central tower, flanked
by two wings, their high-pitched roof covered
with projecting windows. The ground flooi*
is arcaded. The first and second floors have
The Heart of Brussels 199
Gothic windows, altered into square frames in
a portion of the building. The edifice is of
different dates. The original H6tel-de-Ville
consisted only of the wing to your left, as you
face it, erected in 1402. The right wing,
shorter in fagade, and architecturally somewhat
different, was added in 1443. The style of the
whole, save where altered, is Middle Gothic
("Decorated"). The beautiful open spire
should be specially noticed. On its summit
stands a colossal gilt metal figure (1454) of
the Archangel Michael^ patron of the city.
The statues in the niches are modern, and not
quite in keeping with the character of the build-
ing. Observe, over the main portal, St.
Michael, patron saint of the town, with St.
Sebastian, St. Christopher, St. George, and
St. Gery. Below are the Cardinal Virtues.
The figures above are Dukes of Brabant.
Inspect the whole fagade carefully. You will
hardly find a nobler piece of civic architecture
in Europe. The carved wooden door has also
a figure of St. Michael. The gargoyles and
the bosses near the staircase entrance to the
left are likewise interesting.
Now, go round the corners to the left and
200 Belgium : Its Cities
right, to inspect the equally fine fagades, facing
the Rues de rH6tel-de-Ville and de la Tete-
d'Or. The back of the building is eighteenth
century and uninteresting. You may also pass
rapidly through the courtyard, which, however,
has very little character. But you need not
trouble to inspect the interior, unless you are
an abandoned sightseer.
The other important and beautiful building
which faces the H6tel-de-Ville "is the Maison
du Roi, formerly used as the Halle au Pain
or Broodhuis. It is of late florid Gothic,
verging toward Renaissance (1514, re-
stored), and is in three storeys, two of them
arcaded. The first floor has an open gallery,
like the loggia of a Venetian palace, whence
ladies could view processions and ceremonies
in the square below. The building terminates
in a high roof, with projecting windows, and
a handsome open tower and lantern. The
whole has been recently rebuilt and profusely
gilded. Within, is a small Communal Museum
(open free daily, from ten to four). Come
again often to view these two noble halls.
The third principal building (on the east
side of the Square) known as the Maison
The Heart of Brussels 201
des Dues was the Public Weighing House,
constructed in a debased Renaissance style,
and also profusely gilded. It bears the date
1698, but is now unworthily occupied by sale
rooms and shops.
The whole of the remaining space in this
glorious square is surrounded by magnificent
Guild Halls of the various corporations.
Beginning on the south side (that occupied
by the H6tel-de-Ville) , we have, first, left,
two high-gabled houses of good seventeenth-
century domestic architecture. Next to them,
on the right, comes the Hotel des Brasseurs,
dated 1752, and lately surmounted by a bronze
equestrian statue of Charles of Lorraine. This
was originally the Guild Hall of the Brewers.
After that, again, rises the house known as
" The Swan," belonging to the Corporation
of Butchers. The small building at the corner,
next the H6tel-de-Ville, with an open loggia,
now in course of restoration, is known as the
Maison de I'Etoile : a gilt star surmounts its
gable.
The finest group of houses, however, is that
to the west side of the square (right of the
H6tel-de-Ville), unoccupied by any one prom-
202 Belgium : Its Cities
inent building. Beginning' on the left, we
have, first, the house known as " The Fox "
(Le Renard), dated 1699: it is surmounted
by a figure of St. Nicholas resuscitating the
three boys, and is adorned with statues of
Justice and the Four Continents on its first
floor. Then comes the Guild Hall of the
Skippers, or Maison des Bateliers, its gable
constructed somewhat like the poop of a ship,
with four projecting cannon. The symbolism
here is all marine — sailors above; then Nep-
tune and his horses, etc. To the right of
this, we see the house known as " La Louve,"
bearing as a sign Romulus and Remus with
the wolf. This was originally the Guild Hall
of the Archers. It shows an inscription stating
that it was restored, after being burnt down,
by the Confraternity of St. Sebastian (patron
of archers). Its relief of the Saint with a bow
is appropriate. The two remaining houses are
" La Brouette," dated 1697, and " Le Sac,"
bearing on its gable a medallion with three
faces.
The houses on the north side (that occupied
by the Maison du Roi), are less interesting,
except those on the extreme right. Next to
The Heart of Brussels 203
the Maison du Roi itself come two pretty little
decorated houses, beyond which is the Guild
Hall of the Painters, known as " The Pigeon,"
and that called " La Taupe," the Hall of the
Tailors. The two last at the corner of the
street are now in course of restoration.
Several other fine houses of the same period
close the vista of the streets round the corner.
This imposing group of Guild Halls dates,
however, only from the end of the seventeenth
century, mostly about 1697. The reason is
that in 1695 ^^e greater part of the Grand'
Place was destroyed by Marshal de Villeroi
during the siege. Two years later, the Guild
Houses were rebuilt in the ornate and some-
what debased style of the Louis XIV. period.
Fortunately, the two great mediaeval buildings,
which stood almost isolated, did not share the
general destruction.
Continue your stroll through the Lower
Town.
From the Grand' Place, take the Rue au
Beurre, which leads east toward the Bourse.
On your right you will pass the now uninter-
esting and entirely modernized Church of St.
Nicolas. In its origin, however, this is one
204 Belgium : Its Cities
of the oldest churches in Brussels, and though
it has long lost almost every mark of antiquity,
it is instructive to recognize here again (as
at Ghent) the democratic patron saint of the
merchants and burgesses in close proximity
to their Town Hall and their Guild Houses.
The Bourse itself, which faces you, is a hand-
some and imposing modern building. Go
past its side till you reach the line of the
Inner Boulevards, which lead north and south
between the Gare du Nord and the Gare du
Midi.
This superb line of streets, one of the finest
set of modern boulevards in Europe, has been
driven straight through the heart of the Old
Town, and the authorities offered large
money prizes for the best fagades erected along
the route. Content yourself for the moment
with a glance up and down, to observe the
general effect, and then continue on to your
left along the Boulevard, where the first street
on the right will lead you to the little Place
St. Gery, now occupied by a market, but origi-
nally the centre of Old Brussels. A stroll
through the neighbouring streets is interesting,
past the Halles Centrales, and the modem
The Heart of Brussels 205
Church of St. Catherine, close by which stands
the old Tower of St. Catherine, built into a
modern block of houses. A little further on
is the picturesque Tour Noire, the only re-
maining relic of the first fortifications of the
city. You may prolong this walk to the Place
du Beguinage, with a tolerable church. The
quarter has no special interest, but it will serve
to give you a passing idea of the primitive
nucleus of mediaeval Brussels.
I will interpolate here a few remarks about
the more modern portion of the Old Town.
The best way to see it is to take the tram
along the Inner Boulevards from the Gare
du Midi to the Gare du Nord. You will then
pass, first, the Outer Boulevards (see later) :
next, right, the Palais du Midi ; left, the Place
d'Anneessens, with a statue of Anneessens,
the intrepid and public-spirited magistrate of
Brussels who was put to death in 1719 for
venturing to defend the privileges of the city
against the Austrian authorities. Just oppo-
site this, you get a glimpse, to the right, of
the Place Rouppe, to be noticed later. Pass-
ing the Place Fontainas, where many streets
radiate, you arrive at the Bourse, already
2o6 Belgium : Its Cities
noticed. The handsome corner building (with
dome) in front of you, which forms so con-
spicuous an element in the prospect as you
approach, is the Hotel Continental. Just in
front of it expands a small new square (Place
de Brouckere) still unfinished, on which a
monument is now being erected to a late burgo-
master (De Brouckere). At this point, the
Boulevard divides, the western branch follow-
ing the course of the Senne (which emerges
to light just beyond the Outer Boulevards),
while the eastern branch goes straight on to
the Gare du Nord, passing at the first corner
a handsome narrow house with gilt summit,
which won the first prize in the competition
instituted by the Municipality for the best
fagades on the new line of streets.
After reaching the Gare du Nord, you can
return to the Gare du Midi by an alternative
line of main streets, which also cuts through
the heart of the Old Town, a little to the east
of the Inner Boulevards. It begins with the
Rue Neuve, where a short street to the left
conducts you straight to the Place des Martyrs,
a white and somewhat desolate square of the
eighteenth century (1775), adorned later with
The Heart of Brussels 207
a Monument to the Belgians who were killed
during the War of Independence in 1830.
Shortly after this (continuing the main line)
you pass two covered galleries, and then arrive
at the Place de la Monnaie. On your right
is the handsome building of the new Post
Office; on your left, the white Ionic-pillared
Grand Theatre or Theatre de la Monnaie.
You then pass between St. Nicolas on the
left, and the Bourse on the right, and continue
on to the Place Rouppe (ornamented with a
fountain and a statue of Brussels personified) :
whence the Avenue du Midi leads you straight
to the Place de la Constitution, in front of the
South Station.
The remainder of the western half of the
town is, for the most part, poor and devoid
of interest, though it contains the principal
markets, hospitals, and barracks, as well as the
basins for the canals which have superseded
the Senne.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE BRUSSELS PICTURE GALLERY! HALL
OF THE OLD MASTERS
I INTERPOLATE here the account of the
Brussels Picture Gallery, because it is the
most important object to be seen in the town,
after the Grand' Place and its neighbourhood.
You must pay it several visits — three at the
very least — and you may as well begin early.
Follow the roughly chronological order here
indicated, and you will understand it very much
better. Begin again next time where you left
off last: but also, revisit the rooms you have
already seen, to let the pictures sink into your
memory. Intersperse these visits with general
sightseeing in the town and neighbourhood.
The Brussels Gallery forms an excellent con-
tinuation to the works of art we have already
studied at Bruges and Ghent. In the first
place, it gives us some further examples of
208
The Brussels Picture Gallery 209
the Old Flemish masters, of the Van Eycks
and of Memling, as well as several altar-pieces
belonging to the mystical religious School of
the Brussels town-painter, Roger van der
Weyden, who was Memling's master. These
have been removed from churches at va-
rious times, and gradually collected by the
present Government. It also affords us an
admirable opportunity of becoming well ac-
quainted with the masterpieces of Dierick
Bouts, or Dierick of Haarlem, an early
painter, Dutch by birth but Flemish by train-
ing, who was town-painter in democratic
Louvain (which town may afterward be made
the object of an excursion from Brussels).
But, in the second place, besides these paint-
ers of the early school, the Brussels Gallery
is rich in works of the transitional period,
and possesses in particular a magnificent
altar-piece by Quentin Matsys, the last of the
old Flemish School, and the first great pre-
cursor of the Renaissance in the Low Coun-
tries. He was practically an Antwerp man
(though born at Lx>uvain), and his place in
art may more fitly be considered in the Ant-
werp Museum.
2IO Belgium : Its Cities
From his time on we are enabled to trace,
in this Gallery, the evolution of Flemish art
to its third period, the time of Rubens (also
better seen at Antwerp) and his successors,
the great Dutch painters, here fairly repre-
sented by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Van der
Heist, Gerard Dou, and Teniers.
In the following list of the most noteworthy
works of each School, I have adhered, roughly
speaking, to chronological order, but with-
out compelling the reader unnecessarily to
dance up and down the various rooms of the
collection from one work to another. The
Gallery itself is one of the most splendid in
Europe, and it has been recently rearranged
in a most satisfactory manner.
The national collection of pictures by Old
Masters occupies the very handsome modern
building known as the Palais des Beaux-Arts
in the Rue de la Regence, immediately after
passing through the Place Royale. (Four
large granite columns in front : bronze sculp-
ture groups to right and left.) See plan on
opposite page.
Enter by the big door with the four large
granite columns. In the vestibule, turn to the
The Brussels Picture Gallery 211
right, and mount the staircase. Then pass
through Room III. and Corridor A, to Room
V. on the right, and on to Room I., the Hall
of the Old Flemish Masters, which contains
the most interesting works in the Gallery.
ocdstOHiL cirttAMa
Ivin-I
0000
STKEET FRONT
THE PICTURE GALLERY AT BRUSSELS.
You may also, if you like, pass through the
collection of Sculpture in the Hall below,
entering by Corridor D ; in which case, turn
to the left into Rooms VHI. and H., and then
to the right into Room L, as above. This is
212 Belgium: Its Cities
the handsomer entrance. Much of the sculp-
ture has great merit : but being purely modem,
it does not fall within the scope of these
Historical Guides.
Begin in the middle of the wall, with No.
19, ** Hubert van Eyck : the two outer up-
per shutters from the Adoration of the Lamb
at Ghent, representing Adam and Eve, whose
nudity so shocked Joseph H. that he objected
to their presence in a church. These fine
examples of the un idealized northern nude are
highly characteristic of the Van Eycks' crafts-
manship. The Adam is an extremely con-
scientious and able rendering- of an ordinary
and ill-chosen model, surprisingly and almost
painfully true in its fidelity to nature. The
foreshortening of the foot, the minute ren-
dering of the separate small hairs on the legs,
the large-veined, every-day hands, the frank
exhibition of the bones and sinews of the neck,
all show the extreme northern love of realism,
and the singular northern inattention to
beauty. Compare this figure with the large
German panels on a gold ground in the cor-
ners diagonally opposite (Nos. 141, 142), if
you wish to see how great an advance in truth
The Brussels Picture Gallery 213
of portraiture was made by the Van Eycks.
The Eve is an equally faithful rendering of
an uninteresting model, with protruding body
and spindle legs. Above, in the lunettes, are
the Offerings of Cain and Abel, and the Death
of Abel, in grisaille. The backs of the shut-
ters will be opened for you by the attendant.
They exhibit, above, two Sibyls, with scrolls
from their prophecies; below the central por-
tion of the Annunciation in the total picture,
with a view through the window over the
town of Ghent, and the last words of the
angelic message, truncated from their context.
This portion of the picture, is, of course, only
comprehensible by a study of the original
altar-piece at Ghent.
Continue now along this wall to the right
of the Adam and Eve.
24. J. Gossart, called Mabuse (1470 —
1541), triptych with a Glorification of the
Magdalen, given by a special votary. The
central panel contains the chief event in her
history — the Supper at the House of Simon
the Pharisee. The host and one guest are
admirably represented by Flemish portraits,
exquisitely robed, and reproduced in marvel-
214 Belgium ; Its Cities
lous detail. The figure of the Christ is, as
usual, insipid. Beneath the table, the Mag-
dalen, as central figure, with her alabaster
box of ointment^ kisses the feet of Christ. To
the right, Judas, with his traditional red hair,
and bearing the purse, asks, with a contemp-
tuous gesture. Why this was not sold and given
to the poor? In the background are the
Apostles. Conspicuous amongst them is the
conventional round face of St. Peter. The
whole scene takes place in a richly decorated
interior, with charming colouring and a finely
rendered clock, curtain, and other accessories.
Gossart visited Italy, and was one of the
earliest Flemings to be influenced by the
Italian Renaissance. You will not overlook
the half-Gothic, half-Renaissance architecture,
nor the chained squirrel, nor the semi-
grotesque episodes in the background, very
domestic and Flemish. (Moses above the
Pharisee's head marks his devotion.)
The left panel has another principal event
in the Magdalen's life^ the Resurrection of
Lazarus. Here also the Christ is insipid, but
the Peter behind him, in a green robe, is finely
characterized; and the John, affected. Be-
The Brussels Picture Gallery 215
side are the Magdalen (same dress as before)
and Martha, with a group of women and by-
standers in singular head-dresses. In the
background rises a very ideal Bethany. The
right panel represents the kneeling donor
(an unknown Premonstratensian abbot) ; on
his book is written, " Mary Magdalen, pray
for us." Above him is seen the floating figure
of the Magdalen, clad only in her own luxu-
riant hair, and raised aloft by angels from
her cave, the Sainte Baume, in Provence, to
behold the Beatific Vision. The background
has Stations of the Cross, actually copied
(with the rest of the landscape) from those
at the Sainte Baume, which Gossart must have
visited at his patron's instance. On the backs
of the wings, yet another scene in the life of
the Saint, Christ and the Magdalen in the
Garden. All this triptych is finely modelled
and well-coloured.
57' 59» 60. Three panels attributed to
Roger van der Weyden, of Toumay, town-
painter of Brussels, and teacher of Memling —
a highly symbolical and religious master.
Scenes from the life of the Virgin. In the
centre, the Presentation of the Virgin in the
2i6 Belgium : Its Cities
Temple. The foreground is occupied by St.
Joachim and St. Anna, parents of the little
Virgin, who is seen mounting the regulation
fifteen steps of the Temple, assisted by a
somewhat unusual angel. At the head of the
steps stands the High Priest. Within, the
Virgins of the Lord are seen reading. To the
right, still in the same panel, is the Annun-
ciation, with the usual features, angel on the
left, Madonna on the right, prie-dieu, bed.
Annunciation lily, and arcade in the fore-
ground. The left panel has the Circumcision;
and the right, Christ among the Doctors in
the Temple, with some excellent portraits in
the background. (For Van der Weyden's
place in art, see Conway; for the Madonna
ascending the steps, *' Legends of the Ma-
donna.")
6 1, 62. Also attributed to Roger van der
Weyden : parts of the same series. Way to
Calvary and the Crucifixion. The first has
the usual brutal soldiers and a suffering but
not very dignified Christ. (Study for com-
parison with others.) Beside the Virgin
kneels the donor. The second has the con-
ventional figures of the fainting Madonna, St.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 217
John, the Magdalen, and the other Maries:
sun and moon darkened. In the distance of
both, Flemish towns. (Good trees and land-
scape.)
124A. Good portrait by unknown (trans-
itional) Fleming (Van Orley?), probably
of a lawyer : the charters seem to indicate a
secretary of Maximilian and Charles V.
126. A crowded Calvary of the German
School (late fifteenth century) with an ema-
ciated Saviour, writhing and distorted thieves,
and rather wooden spectators. Observe the
St. Longinus in armour on the bay horse,
piercing the side of Christ, for comparison
hereafter with such later conceptions as Ru-
bens's at Antwerp. To the left is the group of
the Madonna, St. John, and the two Maries.
The red eyes of St. John are characteristic of
this scene, and descend to Vandyck. The
Maries are unmitigated German housewives.
The Magdalen embraces the foot of the Cross.
On the right are spectators and a brawl be-
tween soldiers. The background is full of
characteristic German devils and horrors :
also St. Veronica, Peter, Malchus, Judas
hanging himself, etc.
2i8 Belgium: Its Cities
Above it, 143, German School. Christ and
the Apostles : gold background. Very fla-
vourless : shows the tendencies from which
the Van Eycks revolted.
By the door, yy. Insipid Flemish Virgin
and Child.
Now, return along the same wall, beyond
the great Van Eyck in the centre.
41. Bernard van Orley (transitional).
Triptych (sawn in two), with the Patience
of Job inside, and Lazarus and Dives outside.
In the centre panel^ the house falling upon
the sons of Job. In the background, Job and
his comforters : his house in flames, etc.
Left panel, the flocks and herds of Job driven
off by the Sabeans, with Satan before the
Almighty at the summit. Right panel, Job
in his last state more blessed than formerly:
his comforters ask him to intercede for them.
Beyond this again, the outer shutters (the
panels having been sawn through) : extreme
left, Lazarus at the Rich Man's gate; above,
his new-born soul borne aloft to Heaven.
Below, cooks, servants, etc. Extreme right,
the Rich Man dying, attended by his physi-
cian (compare the Dropsical Woman by
The Brussels Picture Gallery 219
Gerard Dou in the Louvre). Below, Dives
in Torments (in a very Flemish Hell) calling
to Lazarus. Above, Lazarus in Abraham's
bosom. This is a good characteristic ex-
ample of the transitional period between the
early and later Flemish art, greatly influenced
by the Italian Renaissance. Van Orley
travelled in Italy, and imitated Raphael in com-
position and drawing.
Beyond it, attributed to Roger van der
Weyden, 58, 63, 64 (three panels arbitrarily
placed together). In the centre panel, two
subjects. Left, the Nativity, elements all
conventional : ruined temple, shed, ox, and ass
(extremely wooden), and St. Joseph in back-
ground. (He frequently bears a candle in
this scene in order to indicate that the time is
night.) Right, the Adoration of the Three
Kings, old, middle-aged, young, the last a
Moor. St. Joseph examines, as often, the
Old King's gift. Note his costume; it recurs
in Flemish art. Left panel, Joseph of Ari-
mathea with the Crown of Thorns, Nicodemus
with the three nails, St. John, and the three
Maries at the Sepulchre. Right panel, En-
tombment, with the same figures : the Crown
220 Belgium : Its Cities
of Thorns and nails in the foreground.
Great importance is always attached to these
relics, preserved in the Sainte Chapelle and at
Monza, near Milan.
At the corner, two good portraits: t.'j, by
Holbein the Younger, of * Sir Thomas More.
127. Flagellation and Ascension, German
School, with gilt backgrounds.
Beneath them, a fine Madonna, unnumbered,
with child and an apple.
On either side of it, * 145, 146, beautiful
soft-toned German portraits (by Beham?)
of two children, Maximilian II., and his
sister, Anne of Austria.
The skied pictures on this wall are only in-
teresting as specimens of the later transitional
period, when Flemish art was aiming ill at
effects unnatural to it.
Continue along the wall in the same direc-
tion.
271, skied, is a Last Judgment by Floris, also
transitional and useful for comparison with
others elsewhere. To right and left, the Fall
of the Damned and the Just Ascending re-
call early examples at Bruges.
By the door, loi, * portrait of Johanna of
The Brussels Picture Gallery 221
Spain (the Mad), mother of Charles V. :
fine fifteenth century work, attributed to Jacob
Jansz of Haarlem.
73, 74. Excellent old Flemish portraits.
Between them, 36, a Holy Family and St.
Anne, with the donor, a Franciscan monk, by
a feeble imitator of Memling.
Above it, 68, Scenes from the Life of the
Virgin, with a donor. On the left, the Na-
tivity. Note the conventional elements. On
the right, the Circumcision. Above, Angel and
patron saints.
100. * Portrait of Philippe le Beau, father
of Charles V., companion to his wife opposite.
Observe the collar of the Golden Fleece, and
the united anns of Spain, Burgundy, etc., on
his doublet. These portraits were originally
the wings of a triptych.
112. Triptych, Flemish School, early six-
teenth century. Centre panel, Miracle of St.
Anthony of Padua and the Mule. (The
Saint, carrying the Host, met a scoffer's mule,
which knelt as it passed.) Above, St. Bona-
ventura, attired as bishop, praying. These
must be the chief objects of the donor's de-
votion : they are also represented on the outer
222 Belgium : Its Cities
wings. Right and left, the donor (whose
name was Tobias), with his personal patron,
St. Raphael the Archangel (accompanying
the young Tobias), and his wife, with St.
Margaret and the Dragon. (For Tobias and
the Fish, see Book of Tobit.)
Beneath it, Patinier, a painter chiefly mem-
orable for his landscapes (of which this is a
poor example). St. Jerome in the Desert,
beating his breast with a stone before a
crucifix. Beside him, his cardinal's hat and
lion. Not a good example of the master.
42. Tolerable portrait of a doctor, by Ber-
nard van Orley.
56. Roger van der Weyden : head of a
Woman Weeping. Perhaps a portion of a
large composition, or a study for one. More
likely, a copy by a pupil. Much damaged.
70. Triptych of the Flemish School (Hugo
van der Goes?) ; centre panel, Assumption
of Our Lady. Round the empty tomb are
gathered the apostles ; conspicuous among
them, St. Peter with a censer, and St. James.
Above, Our Lady taken up in a glory by Christ
and the Holy Ghost, represented as like Him.
In the background, her Funeral, St. Peter,
The Brussels Picture Gallery 223
as Pope, accompanying. Note the papal dress
of St. Peter; St. James holds the cross as
Bishop of Jerusalem. Left wing, the chief
donor, accompanied by his guardian angel and
two of the apostles, one of whom holds St.
Peter's tiara^ as if part of the main picture.
In the background, St. Thomas receiving the
Holy Girdle from an Angel, a common treat-
ment in Flemish art, though Italians make
him receive it from Our Lady in person.
Right wing, donor's son and wife, with
guardian angel. This triptych closely re-
sembles No. 71 (which see later), except that
that picture is in one panel, instead of three. I
think 71 must have been painted first, and
this taken from it, but made into a triptych;
which would account for the unusual flowing
over of the main subject into the wings.
Beside it, unnumbered, Patinier : Repose
on the Flight into Egypt, with fine landscape
background.
49. Martin Schongauer (of Colmar, a Ger-
man largely influenced by Roger van der
Weyden), * Ecce Homo, painted like a
miniature.
224 Belgium : Its Cities
Above, 72, Flemish School, Head of St.
John the Baptist on a charger.
47A, Patinier : another Repose on the Flight
into Egypt. Observe persistence of the main
elements. Notice in particular, as compared
with the similar picture close by, the staff,
basket, etc., in the right foreground.
35. School of Memling, perhaps by the
master : a Bishop preaching : M. Fetis thinks,
exhorting the Crusade in which Pope Nicolas
V. wished to interest the princes of Europe
after the fall of Constantinople.
18. School of Diirer: Fine and thought-
ful portrait of a man, perhaps Erasmus.
Above it, 78, Flemish triptych (School of
Van der Weyden) of the Adoration of the
Magi, the elements in which will by this time
be familiar to you. Right and left. Adoration
of the Shepherds and Circumcision. The
exceptional frequency of the subject of the
Adoration of the Magi in the Low Countries
and the Rhine district is to be accounted for
by the fact that the relics of the Three Kings
are preserved in Cologne Cathedral, and are
there the chief object of local cult.
At the comer.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 225
5 and 6, two good portraits by the German
De Bruyn (early sixteenth century). Transi-
tional : show Italian influence.
Between them, unknown German, Wedding
Feast at Cana. That you may have no doubt
as to the reality of the miracle, a servant is
pouring water into the jars in the foreground.
He is much the best portion of the picture. Be-
hind are Christ, St. John, and Our Lady. Next
to them, the bride and bridegroom. (Com-
pare the Gerard David in the Louvre.)
Above it, 142, a very quaint St. George
and St. Catherine, early German School, with
gold background. St. George is stiffly clad
in armour, and painfully conscious of his
spindle legs, with a transfixed dragon and
broken lance at his feet. St. Catherine looks
extremely peevish, with a Byzantine down-
drawn mouth : she holds the sword of her
martyrdom, and has a fragment of her wheel
showing behind her. Her face is highly
characteristic of the severity and austerity of
early German art. Companion piece (141)
at opposite corner.
Now proceed to the next wall.
105. Tolerable triptych, Flemish School,
226 Belgium : Its Cities
representing the events of the Infancy.
Centre, Adoration of the Shepherds, with the
usual conventional features (ruined temple,
shed, ox and ass, etc.) and St. Joseph holding
his candle, as often, to indicate night-time.
Left, Annunciation, with the usual position
of the angel reversed. Otherwise the portico
and other features persist. Compare the
great Van Eyck at Ghent, from which some
elements here are borrowed. Right, the Cir-
cumcision. Symbolical figure of Moses on
altar full of the symbolism of Van der Wey-
den's School. (Outer shutters, uninteresting,
St. Catherine and St. Barbara.)
114. The Seven Sorrows of Mary, in
grisaille, with the Mater Dolorosa in the
centre. Study these Seven Sorrows: they
recur.
47. Pleasing transitional Madonna, School
of Van Orley, somewhat Italian in feeling, in
a pretty arcade, with nice landscape back-
ground.
69. * Descent from the Cross (Van der
Weyden or his School). Notice the white
sheet on which the body is laid, as later in
the great Rubens. Nicodemus and Joseph
BOUTS. — ^ JUSTICE OF EMPEROR OTHO
(First panel).
The Brussels Picture Gallery 227
of Arimathea support the body; St. John and
one of the Maries hold the fainting Madonna.
Left, the Magdalen, with her long hair. By
her feet, her box of ointment. Close beside
it, the nails, hammer, and pincers. (M. Lafe-
nestre, following Bode, attributes this picture
to Petrus Christus, but with a query.)
3F. * Dierick Bouts of Louvain: The Last
Supper. A fine and characteristic exaanple
of the town-painter of Louvain. The faces
are those of peasants or small bourgeois.
To the right are the donors, entering as spec-
tators : their faces are excellent. Judas sits
in front of the table. The Christ is insipid.
Note the admirable work of the pavement and
background. The servant is a good feature.
If you have Conway with you, compare this
picture with the engraving of the very similar
one by Bouts at Louvain, only, the architecture
there is Gothic, here Renaissance.
Above it, 80, unknown Flemish master:
the Miracles of St. Benedict. He moves the
great stone held down by devils, and performs
several other wonders (the visit of Romanus,
Maurus saving Placidus, etc.), for which see
Mrs. Jameson, " Monastic Orders."
228 Belgium : Its Cities
3c and 3D. *''' Dierick Bouts : Two com-
panion panels, life-size figures, known as the
Justice of the Emperor Otho, and painted for
the Council-Room of the H6tel-de-Ville at
Louvain, as warning to evil-doers, perjurers,
or unjust magistrates. (Compare the Gerard
David of the Flaying of Sisamnes in the
Academy at Bruges.) It is first necessary to
understand the story. During the absence of
the Emperor Otho in Italy (according to
tradition), his Empress made advances to a
gentleman of the court, who rejected her
offers. Piqued by this rebuff, the Empress de-
nounced him to Otho on his return as having
attempted to betray her honour. Otho, with-
out further testimony, had the nobleman be-
headed. His widow appeared before the
Emperor's judgment-seat, bearing her hus-
band's head in her hands, and offered to prove
his innocence by the ordeal of fire. She there-
fore held a red-hot iron in her hand unhurt.
Otho, convinced of his wife's treachery by this
miraculous evidence, had the perjured Empress
burned alive. The first panel to the ri^ht, rep-
resents the scene in two separate moments.
Behind, the nobleman, in his shirt and with his
The Brussels Picture Gallery 22Q
hands tied, walks toward the place of execution,
accompanied by his wife in a red dress and
black hoodj as well as by a Franciscan friar.
In the foreground, the executioner (looking
grimly stem) has just decapitated the victim,
and is giving the head to the wife in a towel.
The headless corpse lies on the ground before
him. The neck originally spurted blood;
flowers have been painted in to conceal this
painful element. All round stand spectators,
probably portraits of the Louvain magistrates,
admirably rendered in Bouts's dry and stiff
but lifelike manner. Behind them, within
a walled garden belonging to a castle in the
background, stand the Emperor with his
sceptre and crown, and the faithless Empress.
Good town and landscape to the left. The
second panel, to the left, separated from this
by a large triptych, represents the nobleman's
wife appearing before the enthroned Otho.
In her right hand she holds her husband's
head ; with her left she grasps the red-hot iron,
unmoved. The brazier of charcoal in which
it has been heated stands on the parti-coloured
marble floor in the foreground. Around are
several portraits of courtiers. Behind is repre-
230 Belgium ; Its Cities
sented the scene of the Empress burning, which
closes the episode. I need not call attention
to the admirable painting of the fur, the green
coat, Otho's flowered red robe, the dog, the
throne, and all the other accessories. This is
considered Dierick Bouts's masterpiece. (Go
later to Lx>uvain to complete your idea of
him.)
Between these two pictures are arranged
five of the finest works in the collection.
32 and 33. Memling: ** Portraits of
Willem Moreel (or Morelli), Burgomaster of
Bruges, and his wife, Barbara, the same per-
sons (Savoyards) who are represented in the
St. Christopher triptych in the Academy at
Bruges. Their daughter is the Sibyl Sam-
betha of the St. John's Hospital. Both
portraits, but especially the Burgomaster's,
are good, hard, dry pictures.
31. MemHng: ** Triptych: perhaps painted
in Italy (if I permitted myself an opinion,
I would say, doubtfully by Memling). At
any rate, it is for the Sforza family of Milan.
Central panel, the Crucifixion, with Our Lady
and St. John. Beautiful background of a
fanciful Jerusalem. Sun and moon darkened.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 231
In the foreground kneel Francesco Sforza in
armour, his wife, Bianca Visconti, and his
son, Galeazzo-Maria. Behind the duke, his
coat of arms. Left panel : the Nativity. In
the foreground St. Francis with the Stigmata,
as patron saint of Francesco, and St. Bavon
with his falcon. Right panel : St. John the
Baptist, as patron saint of Giovanni Galeazzo.
Below, St. Catherine with her sword and
wheel, and St. Barbara with her tower, two
charming figures. I do not know the reason
of their introduction, but they are common
pendants of one another in northern art. You
can get an attendant to unfasten the outer
wings of the triptych for you, but they are
not important. They contain, in grisaille, on
the left, St. Jerome and the lion ; on the right,
St. George and the dragon. (The presence
of St. Bavon in this enigmatic picture leads
me to suppose it was painted for a church
at Ghent. But what were the Sforza family
doing there? Perhaps it has reference to some
local business of the Sforzas in Flanders.)
55. ** Roger van der Weyden : Portrait
of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, wearing
the Golden Fleece. An excellent and charac-
232 Belgium : Its Cities
teristic piece of workmanship. The arrow
has a meaning: it is the symbol of St. Se-
bastian, to whom (as plague-saint) Charles
made a vow in illness, and whom ever after
he specially reverenced.
34. Memling: ** Portrait of an unknown
man, which may be contrasted for its com-
parative softness of execution with the harder
work of his master beside it. Above these : —
26. Triptych, by Heemskerck (early Dutch
School), representing. Centre, the Entomb-
ment, Christ borne, as usual, by Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimathea. In front, the crown
of thorns. Behind, the Magdalen; then the
Madonna and St. John, the two Maries, and
an unknown man holding a vase of ointment.
To the left and right, the donor and his wife,
with their patron saints^ Peter and Mary
Magdalen (keys, box of ointment).
20. Jan van Eyck (attribution doubtful;
probably a later artist, perhaps Gerard David) :
The Adoration of the Magi. Another good
example of this favourite Flemish subject.
In the foreground, the Madonna and Child :
one of Van Eyck's most pleasing faces (if
his). Then, the Old King, kneeling; the
JAN VAN EYCK. ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 233
Middle-aged King, half-l<neeling; and the
Young King, a Moor, with his gift, behind.
(The Old King in such pictures has almost
always deposited his gift.) In the back-
ground, Joseph, and the retinue of the Magi.
Ruined temple, shed, ox, ass, etc., as usual.
140. ** Unknown German master (La-
fenestre says, Flemish). Panel with Our
Lady and Virgin Saints, what is called a
" Paradise Picture," apparently painted for a
church or nunnery in Cologne, and with the
chief patronesses of the city churches or
chapels grouped around in adoration. Our
Lady, with her typical German features, sits
in front, in a robe of blue, before a crimson
damask curtain upheld by angels. Her face
is sweetly and insipidly charming. She holds
a regal court among her ladies. In front of
her kneels the Magdalen, with her long hair
and pot of ointment. To the left, St. Cath-
erine of Alexandria, crowned as princess, and
with her wheel embroidered in pearls on her
red robe as a symbol. The Infant Christ
places the ring on her finger. Further on the
left, St. Cecilia with a bell, substituted in
northern art (where the chimes in the belfry
234 Belgium : Its Cities
were so important) for the organ which she
holds in Italy. Then, St. Lucy, with her
eyes in a dish, and St. Apollonia, holding
her tooth in a pair of pincers. In front of
these two, in a richly brocaded dress, and
beautiful crown, St. Ursula, the great martyr
of Cologne, with the arrows of her martyrdom
lying at her feet. To Our Lady's right, St.
Barbara, in a purple robe trimmed with ermine
and embroidered with her tower (of three
windows), offers a rose to the Infant. Her
necklet is of towers. As usual in northern
art, she balances St. Catherine. Beside her
kneels St. Agnes, in red, with her lamb, and
her ruby ring: beyond whom are St. Helena
with the cross (wearing a simple Roman
circlet), St. Agatha, holding her own severed
breast in the pincers, and St. Cunera with
the cradle and arrow, one of the martyred
companions of St. Ursula. In the background,
the True Vine on a trellis, the garden of roses
("is my sister, my spouse"), and a land-
scape of the Rhine, in which St. George kills
the dragon. This is a particularly fine com-
position of the old German School.
3E. Dierick Bouts : * Martyrdom of St.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 235
Sebastian. Characteristic peasant face; ad-
mirable cloak and background.
1 08 A. Good, dry portrait, by an unknown
early Flemish artist. Our Lady and an angel
with a charter in the background. Observe
the animals and the scenes in the background,
foreshadowing later Dutch painting. (Among
them, Augustus and the Sybil.)
107, 108. Fine portraits of a donor and
his wife (accompanying the last), with their
patron saints, Peter and Paul. The tops of
all have been sawn off.
Above these, 7, a triptych, by Coninxloo.
Centre, Family of St. Anne. Interesting for
comparison with the great Quentin Matsys
in the centre of the room. Left, Joachim's
offering rejected in the Temple (small epi-
sodes behind). Right, the death of St. Anne.
Come back to the central panel after you have
viewed the Quentin Matsys. (The compo-
nent personages are explained there.)
115. Good family group of a donor and his
sons, with St. George; and his wife and
daughters, with St. Barbara. (The cruci-
fixes mark monks and nuns.)
At the corner, 141, German School. St.
236 Belgium : Its Cities
Mary Magdalen and St. Thomas, on gold
background. Companion piece to 142. At
opposite end
13. Cranach the Elder. Hard portrait
of a very Scotch-looking and Calvinistic elder.
50. School of Martin Schongauer: Christ
and the Magdalen in the house of the Phari-
see. Very contorted. Compare with the
Gossart,
I. Amberger: German School, sixteenth
century ; excellent portrait of a gentleman :
good beard.
29. To the left, Lombard, sixteenth cen-
tury: A Last Supper. Only interesting as
showing transition. Compare with Dierick
Bouts.
Above it, 106. Flemish School. Mass of
St. Gregory, with the Crucified Christ appear-
ing on the altar, (Recall the Pourbus at
Bruges.) A most unpleasant picture. Be-
hind, are the elements of the Passion. Left,
the donors ; right. Souls in Purgatory, relieved
by masses. Many minor episodes occupy the
area.
37 and 75. Two Madonnas. Not very
important.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 237
43. Good portrait by Bernard van Orley.
48. Patinier: Dead Christ cm the knees
of the Virgin (Our Lady of the Seven Sor-
rows), painfully emaciated. A sword pierces
Our Lady's breast (and will recur often).
Around it, the rest of the Seven Sorrows.
Note the landscape, characteristic of the
painter.
30. Lombard : Unimportant picture, mean-
inglessly described as Human Misfortunes. It
seems to commemorate an escape from ship-
wreck and from plagues by the same person.
Left panel : A ship sinking ; a man saved on
the shore. In the background, under divine
direction of an angel, he finds his lost gold
in a fish's body. Right panel. He lies ill of
plague, while above is seen the miracle of
St. Gregory and the Angel of the Plague
(Michael) sheathing his sword on the Castle
of St. Angelo.
12. Coninxloo: Joachim and Anna, with
the rejected offering. From them, a genea-
logical tree bears the Madonna and Child. To
the left and right, the angel appearing to
Joachim, and Joachim and Anna at the Golden
238 Belgium : Its Cities
Gate. (Read up the legend.) Curious archi-
tectural setting.
40. Van Orley. Pieta, with the usual
group, and family of donors. Interesting as
a work of transition.
Above it, 98. Triptych, with Descent from
the Cross, Flemish School. Usual figures:
identify them. On the wings, to the left.
Agony in the Garden, Kiss of Judas, Peter and
Malchus ; to the right, The Resurrection, Noli
Me Tangere, Disciples at Emmaus, etc.
71. Good unknown Flemish picture of the
* Assumption of Our Lady (closely resem-
bling No. 70, which see again). The empty
tomb stands in the midst, with lilies ; around,
St. Peter and St. James, and the other apos-
tles; above, Our Lady ascending, borne by
a duplicated figure of Christ (one standing
for the Holy Ghost), in an almond-shaped
glory. On the right, Her Funeral, with St.
Peter wearing the triple crown; on the left,
St. Thomas receiving the girdle from an
angel. Compare with 70, which Lafenestre
judges to be the work of a different artist.
21. Petrus Christus: * Madonna and
The Brussels Picture Gallery 239
Child. One of the finest Madonnas of the
School of Van Eyck.
The place of honour in the centre of the
room is occupied by 38, a magnificent ** trip-
tych by Quentin Matsys, one of the noblest
works of the transitional School, strangely
luminous, with very characteristic and curious
colouring. It represents the favourite Flem-
ish subject of the Family of St. Anne. (It
was painted for the Confraternity of St. Anne
at Lou vain, and stood as an altar-piece in the
church of St. Pierre.) Central panel: An
arcade, in the middle arch of which appears
St. Anne, in red and purple (throughout),
offering grapes to the Divine Child, who holds
a bullfinch, and is seated on the lap of Our
Lady. To her right, Mary Salome, with her
two sons, James and John. To her left, Mary
Cleophas, with her sons, James the Less,
Simon, Thaddseus, and Joseph the Just. Be-
hind the parapet, beside St. Anne, her hus-
band, Joachim; and beside Mary Salome, her
husband, Zebedee. Beside Our Lady, her
husband, Joseph; beside Mary Cleophas, her
husband, Alphseus. Beautiful blue mountain
landscape. Left panel : The angel appearing
240 Belgium : Its Cities
to Joachim, in a magnificent blue landscape.
Joachim's dress is constant. The angel's
robe is most delicious in colour. Right panel :
The Death of St. Anne, with Our Lady and
the other Maries in attendance. Behind, their
husbands. The young Christ gives the bene-
diction.
Now, go round to the back of the picture,
to observe the outer wings. On the left, St.
Joachim driven from the Temple by the High
Priest. On the right (chronologically the
first), Joachim and Anna (much younger),
making their offerings (on marriage) to the
High Priest in the Temple. (Same High
Priest, younger; same dresses.) The por-
trait behind recalls the earlier Flemish man-
ner; otherwise, the work is full of incipi-
ent transition to the Renaissance. Little
episode of Joachim and Anna distributing
alms in the background. (When the triptych
is closed, this wing comes in its proper place
as first of the series.)
CHAPTER XVIL
THE BRUSSELS PICTURE GALLERY: THE
OTHER HALLS
NOW go into the next hall, marked Room
11. on the plan. This contains mainly
German and Flemish pictures of the transi-
tion.
Right of the door, unknown and unnum-
bered, Adam and Eve. Good later Flemish
nude.
125. Quaint German Annunciation.
130. Crucifixion, by an unknown German,
with small figures of donors, and Rhine back-
ground.
14, 15. Cranach the Elder (German six-
teenth century) : * Adam and Eve. Fine
specimens of the later northern nude of the
early Renaissance, interesting for comparison
with the cruder realism of Van Eyck. As
yet, however, even the figure of Eve has rela-
241
242 Belgium : Its Cities
tively little idealism or beauty. Excellent
stag in the background.
137. Six panels : German School. Ornate,
but not interesting, (i) The Lord creating
Eve; in the background the Temptation. (2)
Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac; in the back-
ground in three successive scenes, Abraham's
Sacrifice. (3) Noah and his Family with the
Ark. (4) Esau asks the Blessing of Isaac.
(5) Meeting of Jacob and Esau. Note the
grotesquely urban conception of the Semitic
nomads. (6) The Nativity.
129. German School. Tree of Jesse, of
purely symbolical interest.
28. J. Joest: St. Anne enthroned, Joseph,
Our Lady, the Infant. Early transitional.
293. Van Hemessen : Genre piece, absurdly
given the name of The Prodigal Son, by a sort
of prescription, but really a Flemish tavern
scene of the sort which afterward appealed to
Dutch artists. A characteristic work: transi-
tional, but with good humourous faces, espe-
cially to the right. Painters still thought all
pictures must pretend to be sacred.
29. Mostart : Two stories from the life
of St. Benedict, (i) The Miracle of his
The Brussels Picture Gallery 243
dinner. (2) As a youth, he mends by prayer
the dish broken by his nurse. ( See Mrs. Jame-
son's "Monastic Orders.")
3. Lancelot Blondeel : St. Peter enthroned
as Pope: in one of his usual extravagant ar-
chitectural frameworks. In circles above, his
Imprisonment and Crucifixion.
Close by, unnumbered, two excellent por-
traits.
79. Transitional Adoration of the Shep-
herds. Observe the growing Renaissance
feeling and Italian influence.
4A. P. Brueghel the Younger: absurdly
called The Census at Bethlehem. In reality
a Flemish Winter Scene.
356. Sir Anthony More: * Portrait of the
Duke of Alva, with the firm lips and cruel
eyes of the ruthless Spaniard. One under-
stands him.
3B. J. Bosch : Appalling Flemish Temp-
tation of St. Anthony, with perhaps the silliest
and most grotesquely repulsive devils ever
painted.
387. Good portrait by Pourbus of a plump
and well-fed Flemish gentleman.
4. P. Brueghel the Elder : Described as the
244 Belgium : Its Cities
Massacre of the Innocents. Flemish winter.
The beginning of genre painting.
Most of the pictures skied above these are
of some interest for comparison with earher
examples of the same subjects.
152. Unknown French portrait of Edward
VI. of England. Hard and dry and of little
artistic value.
76. Tolerable Flemish portrait of Guil-
laume de Croy (Golden Fleece).
192. Another example of a later Last
Judgment.
124B. Unusual combined picture of St.
Jerome, uniting the subjects usually known as
St. Jerome in the Desert and St. Jerome in
his Study.
97. Flemish School : Annunciation.
Chiefly interesting for its conventional fea-
tures, and its very quaint figure of St. Mary
of Egypt, with her three loaves, in the right
panel.
121. Good Flemish portrait of a woman,
dated 1504.
132. German Adoration of the Magi. A
fragment only.
153. Aertsen: * The Dutch Cook. A
The Brussels Picture Gallery 245
famous picture, showing well the earlier
stages of Dutch genre development.
116. A late Flemish Virgin, with portrait
of the donor, and St. Francis receiving the
Stigmata, Beneath it
386. A good Pourbus. Beyond the door,
66, Flemish School (Hugo van der Goes?).
Donor, a lady in a nun's dress (?), with her
name-saint, St. Barbara, bearing her palm as
martyr : in the background, her tower with
the three windows. To balance it, 65, Her
brother (?) or husbandj with his patron, St.
James. (Staff and scallop-shell.)
Above them, good portrait of Philip II.,
of the later transitional period. At the cor-
ner, Adam and Eve, showing the increased
Italian influence. Compare with the two pre-
vious stages of northern nude in the Van Eyck
and the Cranach. Beside it, tolerable Flemish
portraits.
Above, 84, Triptych, by Jan Coninxloo, of
the History of St. Nicholas. (The wings are
misplaced.) Right wing (it should be left),
St. Nicholas, three days old, stands up in his
bath to thank God for having brought him
into the world. Central panel, the young St.
246 Belgium : Its Cities
Nicholas enthroned as Bishop of Myra. Left
wing (should be right), The Death of St.
Nicholas, with angels standing by to convey
his soul to Heaven, A good transitional
Flemish picture. Beneath, tolerable portraits.
Near this, skied, are four good female
saints, transitional, named on labels.
355. Sir Anthony More. Portrait. Above
it, an Entombment, where note again the con-
ventional grouping.
44A. Wings of a triptych by Bernard van
Orley. The centre is missing. To the left,
Martyrdom of St. Matthias. To the right,
The Doubting Thomas. In the background,
Lazarus and Dives, and other episodes. Re-
naissance architecture.
155. Van Alsloot: The Procession of the
Body of St. Gudula at Brussels : of the Span-
ish period, with the guilds named. Interest
purely archaeological. Each guild carries its
mace and symbol. (The second part comes
later.)
Beyond it
46. Portrait, of the School of Van Orley:
lady with a pink, pleasing. Italian influence
is obvious.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 247
489. Portrait of a lady, by M. De Vos.
Early seventeenth century, marking the latest
transitional period. It belongs to a destroyed
triptych.
3A. Bosch : St. Michael the Archangel
conquering the devils, A hideous nightmare
of a morbid and disordered imagination.
488. * Portrait by M. De Vos. Probably
husband of (and pendant to) the previous one.
It was the other wing of the same triptych.
45. Very Raphael esque Holy Family, by
Bernard van Orley, showing in the highest
degree the Italian influence on this originally
quite Flemish painter.
Above it, 92 and 92A. Portraits of the
Micault family.
156. Van Alsloot: Remainder of the Pro-
cession of St. Gudula, with a quaint dragon,
and the Maison du Roi in the background.
Observe, near the centre, the personification
of the patron, St. Michael : elsewhere are St.
Christopher, Ste. Gudule, etc.
44. Two panels from a triptych by Van
Orley. Centre, missing. Left, The Birth of
the Virgin. Note this for the conventional
features : St. Anne in bed ; attendant feeding
248 Belgium : Its Cities
her: bath for infant. In the background,
Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple:
Joachim and Anna below : the Virgin ascend-
ing : the High Priest welcoming her : the
Virgins of the 'Lord by the side. Right,
Joachim's offering rejected. In the back-
ground, the Meeting of Joachim and Anna
at the Golden Gate, and the Angel foretelling
the Birth of the Virgin. Compare this with
the great Quentin Matsys, observing especially
the money falling from the table.
354. Good strong portrait, by Sir Anthony
More, of Hubert Goltzius.
518. Fine German portrait of the early
seventeenth century.
Above it
2. Herri met de Bles : The Temptation
of St. Anthony. Figures and landscape show
Italian influence.
Now pass through Room VIII., containing
chiefly late Italian and French pictures (which
neglect for the'present), and go on into Corri-
dor A, to the left, overlooking the Sculpture
Gallery. This takes us at once into the Later
Flemish School of Rubens and his followers,
whose works fill all these large corridors,
The Brussels Picture Gallery 249
which are admirably adapted for them. Begin
to the right of the door.
315. Jordaens: Fine landscape, with city
to the right. As yet, however, landscape dare
not stand entirely on its own merits. There-
fore, we have here in the foreground figures
of Eleazar and Rebecca at the well, which re-
tain the tradition that pictures must have
some sort of sacred purpose.
507. Unknown. Interior of a picture gal-
lery, with well-known pictures.
To the left of the door. 475. Van Thul-
den : Flemish Wedding Feast. Landscape is
beginning to triumph now : it gets rid of all
pretence of sacredness, but still retains small
figures in the foreground. Landscape for
landscape's sake is hardly yet dreamed of.
24. De Crayer, one of the best imitators
of Rubens : * Adoration of the Shepherds, in
the master's manner.
Near it, unnumbered, Jordaens : * Nymph
and Satyr. (This corridor is largely given
up to works by Jordaens, who was a Prot-
estant, and preferred heathen mythological
subjects to Catholic Christian ones.)
447. Snyders : seventeenth century : * Still
^50 Belgium : Its Cities
Life, which now begins to be painted on its
own merits. This last is by the great animal
painter of the Flemish School.
409. Rubens : ** Coronation of the Virgin
by God the Father and the Son, the Holy
Ghost hovering above in a glory. This altar-
piece, for an altar of Our Lady, is a magnifi-
cent specimen of the master's rich and lumi-
nous colouring. The crimson robe of the
Christ, the blue and lilac harmony on the
Madonna, and the faint yellow of the Father's
robe, are admirably contrasted. So are the
darkness of the lower clouds and the lumi-
nosity of the upper region, recalling Titian's
famous Assumption at Venice. The little
boy-angels are sweet and characteristic. Here
you may begin to appreciate the force, the
dash, the lavish wealth of Rubens. (Accord-
ing to Rooses, however, the work of a pupil,
touched up by the master.)
275. Good Still Life by Fyt.
Then, unnumbered, Jordaens : * Susannah
and the Elders: a very Flemish and matronly
Susannah. The nude of Rubens, without the
glorious touch of the master: but a good
picture.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 251
417. Fine * portrait, by Rubens, of a fair
man (J. C. de Cordes).
Then, unnumbered, Study by the same for
the ceiling in Whitehall.
418. Rubens : * Portrait : Wife of the last :
in his finest and richest portrait manner, which
contrasts in many ways with his larger and
freer allegorical style. (Fromentin thinks
poorly of it.)
414. Rubens: An unimpressive little Mar-
tyrdom of St. Ursula,
Above it, an Adoration of the Magi, by
Herreyns : Interesting only as showing the
persistence of the School into the eighteenth
century.
310. Jordaens: * An Allegory of Abun-
dance. Studies from the nude in the style
of the School : meritorious.
259. Du Chatel : Quaint little portraits of
the seventeenth century.
Pass the door of the Dutch School. Beyond
it, more Still Life, excellently painted.
311. Jordaens : Very Flemish * family
group, with a somewhat superfluous satyr.
(Subject nominally taken from the fable of
the Satyr and the Wayfarer.)
252 Belgium : Its Cities
344. Vandermeulen : View of Toumay and
landscape, with the siege by Louis XIV. in-
troduced for the sake of figures in the fore-
ground.
Above it, De Crayer : St. Anthony and St.
Paul the Hermit. Interesting for persistence
of the typical figures.
The other pictures in this corridor are, I
think, self-explanatory.
Now enter Room III. to the left of the
door.
412. Rubens: ** Charming little Madonna
and Child (called " Our Lady of the Forget-
me-not "), in a garden of roses (the landscape
by J. Brueghel). One of his best small pic-
tures, in a careful style.
Still Life, by Snyders. In the comer, four
Fine * Heads of Negroes, a study for the
Magi, by Rubens. Not caricatured, but full
of genuine negro character.
220. Good portrait by Philippe de Cham-
paigne.
419. Splendid * portrait by Rubens: (ac-
cording to Rooses, by Van Dyck).
This room also contains several fine pictures
by Teniers (father or son) and other late
The Brussels Picture Gallery 253
Flemish painters, deserving of attention, but
needing no explanation. (Portraits, picture
gallery, etc.) Do not imagine because I pass
them by that you need not look at them.
Now enter Corridor B. To the right of door,
476. A. van Utrecht : One of the favourite
Dutch kitchen scenes, well painted.
255. Van Diepenbeeck: St. Francis pray-
ing.
Left of the door, good works by De Crayer
and others.
339. P. Meert, good portraits.
In the centre, 407, Rubens : ** Assumption,
High Altar-piece from the Carmelite Church
in Brussels. A fine picture, of Rubens's early
period, smooth of surface and relatively care-
ful, with the Apostles looking into the empty
tomb, whence women are picking roses (See
"Legends of the Madonna"). To the right,
the youthful figure of St. Thomas, stretching
his hands. Observe the fine contrast of colour
between the lower and upper portions. This
is a noble specimen of the master's bold and
dramatic treatment, but without his later ease
of execution.
265. Van Dyck (the greatest pupil of
254 Belgium : Its Cities
Rubens, leading us on to the later Dutch
School). * St. Francis receiving the Stig-
mata. From the Franciscan Capuchin Church
in Brussels.
490. * Good portraits, by C. de Vos, o£
himself and his family.
264. Companion to 265. Another Fran-
ciscan picture by Van Dyck. * St. Anthony
of Padua holding the Infant Jesus. (In
neither is he seen to great advantage.)
239. De Crayer: St. Anthony, with his
pig and staff, and St. Paul the Hermit, in his
robe of palm-leaves, fed by a raven. In the
background, the Death of St. Paul; two lions
dig his grave. On the right, below, late figure
of donor, seldom so introduced at this period.
Jay in the background. Good landscape.
Enter Room IV., with landscapes and still
life of the later period. One by * Rubens near
the centre. Good * family group of the Van
Vilsteren household, by Van Dyck. Flower-
pieces by Seghers and others.
266. Fine Van Dyck, ** portrait of an
Antwerp magistrate.
The room also contains several pictures
worthy of note, but too modern in tone to
The Brussels Picture Gallery 255
need explanation. Observe that landscape has
now almost vindicated its right to be heard
alone, though figures in the foreground are
still considered more or less necessary.
Now enter Corridor C, which contains good
pictures of the Later Flemish School.
482. Otto van Veen (Rubens's master:
of whom I shall say more at Antwerp). Holy
Family, with St. Francis, left, and St. Cath-
erine, right (Sword and Wheel). The Infant
Christ puts the ring on her finger. Influence
of Titian obvious.
Unnumbered, Janssens: Our Lady appear-
ing to St. Bernard.
Stag Hunt by Snyders.
411. Rubens; * Martyrdom of the local
Bishop, St. Lieven. His tongue is torn out
and given to dogs. Very savage pagans;
rearing horse; and characteristic angels, with
celestial scene. In Rubens's less pleasing " alle-
gorical " manner. Plenty of force, but too
fiercely bustling.
Paul de Vos : Horse and wolves. Full of
spirit.
415. Rubens: Fine portrait of the Arch-
duke Albert.
256 Belgium : Its Cities
413. Rubens : Venus in the Forge of Vul-
can. A made-up picture. Splendid studies of
the exuberant nude by Rubens; with effects
of Hght and shade in a smithy, added in the
late seventeenth century to make up for a lost
portion.
416. Rubens: Companion portrait of the
Infanta Isabella, wife of 415.
406. Rubens : * Painfully un-Christian
subject : mainly by a pupil, re-touched by the
master : The Saviour about to destroy the
World, which is protected by St. Francis and
Our Lady. A strange method by which a
votary seeks to impress his devotion to his own
patrons. Behind, burning towns, murder, etc.
405. Rubens : * The Way to Calvary.
(Almost all these large Rubenses are from
High Altars.) In the foreground the two
thieves; then Christ falling, and a very Flem-
ish and high-born St. Veronica unconcernedly
wiping his forehead. Our Lady faints close
by, supported by St. John. St. Longinus
mounted, and Roman soldiers. The compo-
sition somewhat sketchy, but immensely vigor-
ous. A gorgeous pageant, it wholly lacks
pathos.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 257
410. Rubens : ** Adoration of the Magi
(Altar-piece of the Capuchin Church at Tour-
nay). One of his noblest works, magnificently
and opulently coloured. The subject was one
he often painted. Note still the Three Kings,
representing the three ages and continents, but,
oh, how transfigured ! In their suite are Moors
and other Orientals. Behind, St. Joseph with
flambeaux, representing the earlier candle.
This is a painting in Rubens's best Grand Sei-
gneur manner — vast, throbbing, concentrated.
He thinks of a Nativity as taking place with all
the pomp and ceremony of the courts which he
frequented. Charming pages in the fore-
ground.
Then flowers, hunting scenes, etc., requiring
no comment.
408. Rubens (much restored) : * Christ
on the knees of Our Lady. A noble composi-
tion, greatly injured. In the foreground
kneels the Magdalen (her hair falling ungrace-
fully), with the nails and Crown of Thorns.
Notice always her abundant locks. To the
right, St. Francis, with the Stigmata, bends
over in adoration (a Franciscan picture). To
the left, very fleshy angels (Antwerp models)
258 Belgium : Its Cities
hold the instruments of the Passion. White
sheet and dead flesh in their usual strong com-
bination. (Painted for the Franciscan Capu-
chins of Brussels.)
The De Crayers^ close by, contrast in the
comparative crudity of their colour with the
splendid harmonies of the master.
236. De Crayer. The Martyrdom of St.
Blaise. Shows him combed with a wool-
carder.
Now pass through Room VII. (with Italian
pictures to be considered later) and enter
Corridor D. Right of door, nothing that re-
quires comment, save
205. Philip de Champaigne : Presentation
in the Temple, with characteristic crude
French colouring.
Left of door, 243, De Crayer : Fraternity of
Crossbowmen, with their patroness, the Ma-
donna.
158. J. D'Arthois: Landscape, now abso-
lutely emancipated from the superstition of
figures.
Right and left of central door, good saints,
by De Crayer. Beneath them, excellent land-
scapes.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 259
237. De Crayer : * Assumption of St. Cath-
erine, with her wheel and sword. A fine pic-
ture, in which De Crayer approaches very near
Rubens. In the foreground are St. Augus^
tine with the flaming heart; St. Gregory,
habited as Pope ; St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome,
— the four Doctors of the Church, with other
saints, contemplating devoutly the glory of
St. Catherine.
The remaining pictures in this room can
be inspected by the visitor without need for
explanation.
It is interesting to stand by the balustrade,
here, above the sculpture gallery, not only
for the general outlook upon the handsome
hall, but also to note how the colour of the
Rubenses stands out at a distance among the
other pictures.
Now, go on through Room VIII. to Corri-
dor A, reaching on the left. Room V., contain-
ing the Dutch Masters. On these, for the
most part, I shall have little to say. Their
landscapes, flower-pieces, and portraits are ad-
mirable, indeed, but they are of the sort which
explain themselves at sight, and need rather
for their appreciation critical faculty than
26o Belgium : Its Cities
external knowledge. Begin on the left of the
door,
395. Van Ravestein, capital portrait.
333B. Nicolas Maes: Good portrait of a
seventeenth century lady.
325. Leerman's Crucifixion, finely exe-
cuted.
Beyond it, good landscape or flower-pieces,
etc., by Cuyp, De Heem, and Isaac van Ostade.
456. St. Pierre at Louvain.
483. Van der Velde, junior : Shipping on
the Zuyder Zee. The Dutch interest in the
sea begins to make itself felt.
500. Good hunting scene by Wouwerman.
Near it^ unnumbered and unnamed, fine
portrait by Van der Heist.
33 1 c. ** Admirable figure of an old
woman fallen asleep over her reading, by
Nicolas Maes.
333c. * Good portrait by the same.
294. Hobbema : * The Wood at Haarlem.
Characteristic Dutch landscape.
33 IB. * Fine portrait by Luttichuys. '
184. Bol : * Portrait of a mathematician
and anatomist. One of the painter's master-
pieces.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 261
346. Beneath it. Van Mieris: Susannah
and the Elders. Frankly anachronistic.
308 is a fine * landscape with cattle, by
Karel du Jardin.
424. Excellent * sea piece, by Jacob Ruys-
dael, representing the Lake of Haarlem in
a storm. Good foam.
I pass by, on the same wall, many merito-
rious Dutch works which cannot fail to strike
the observer.
End wall,
181. Admirable * portrait by Bol. Near
it, good still life and flower-pieces.
182. Bol : * Portrait of a lady, probably
wife of the last. On either side 350, 351,
characteristic tavern scenes by Molinaer.
Right wall,
261. Similar village scene of a Kermesse,
by Dusart.
333. Admirable * portrait by Nicolas Maes.
423. One of Jacob Ruysdael's finest land-
scapes, with ruined tower.
284. Fruit piece by De Heem. One of his
finest.
Unnumbered, Brekelenkamp : * Seam-
stresses, with high lights recalling Gerard
262 Belgium : Its Cities
Dou. Beyond these, a number of fine and
characteristic Dutch landscapes or figure-
pieces, needing Httle comment.
249. Albert Cuyp : * Cows. Excellent.
307. * Delicately luminous piece by Karel
du Jardin, " L' Avant-garde du Convoi."
292A. Portrait by Van der Heist. Not in
his best manner.
253- Van Delen : Excellent architectural
piece, with good * portraits in the foreground,
painted in later by Emmanuel Biset.
258. Gerard Dou : ** The artist drawing
a Cupid by lamplight. One of his finest studies
in light and shade. It should be looked at
long and carefully.
On either side of it, delicate small pieces
by Steen, A. van Ostade, and Dietrich.
184A. * Good portrait by Bol.
333A. * Portrait by Maes. Fine and auda-
cious in colouring. Round it, good Wouwer-
mans and Ruysdaels.
Do not imagine because I give little space
to the pictures in this room that they are not
therefore important. As works of art, many
of them are of the first value; but they do
not require that kind of explanation which it
The Brussels Picture Gallery 263
is the particular province of these Guides to
afford.
Now, pass through the small passage to
Room VI., containing works also by the Dutch
Masters, the finest of which are here exhibited.
Left of the door,
317 and 316. De Keyser: Two fine por-
traits of women.
496. Excellent still life by Jan Weenix.
376. Portraits by Palamedes, arranged as
a musical party.
Above these, unnumbered.
Brakenburgh : The Pretty Hostess.
352. Molyn the Elder: Town fete by night.
Good effect of light.
177A. Fruit and still life, by Van Beyeren.
503. Landscape, by Wynants.
470A. ** Exquisite miniature portrait, by
Ter Burg, which should be inspected closely.
364A. Van der Neer: The Burning of
Dordrecht. A lurid small piece.
493. A. de Voys: The Jolly Drinker.
Highly characteristic of Dutch sentiment.
The other still life and fruit or flower pieces
on this wall need no comment.
End wall.
264 Belgium : Its Cities
495. Weenix: Dutch lady dressing, with
good effects of Hght and colour.
283. Frans Hals : ** Portrait of W. van
Heythuysen. One of his finest works.
Broadly executed, and full of dash and
bravado.
343. Metsu : * One of his favourite scenes
between an officer and a lady, exquisitely
painted. A light lunch. Look closely into
it.
498. De Witte: Fine architectural church
interior. Above it,
295. * Peacock and other birds, by Honde-
coeter, who painted almost exclusively similar
subjects. The solitary feather in the fore-
ground recalls his famous masterpiece at The
Hague,
332. Maes : ** Old woman reading.
Above these, tolerable portraits by Van der
Heist.
455. * One of Jan Steen's most character-
istic pieces of Batavian humour. A Dutch
lover offering affection's gift, in the shape of
a herring and two leeks, to a lady no longer
in her first youth. Behind, her unconscious
husband. The painting of every detail is full
HALS. — PORTRAIT OK W. VAN HEYTHUYSEN.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 265
of the best Dutch merits, and the tone of the
whole frankly repulsive.
Right wall. Several excellent bits of still
life or landscape.
282. Frans Hals : ** Splendid portrait of
Professor Hoornebeck of Leyden. Extremely
vivacious and rapidly handled.
293A. * One of Hobbema's most famous
mills.
397A. Excellent portrait by Rembrandt.
Above it 166. Storm at Sea, by Back-
huysen.
Unnumbered, Paul Potter : * Pigs. Ad-
mirably piggy.
200A. Van der Capelle: Calm sea, with
excellent fishing-boats.
End wall,
296. More of Hondecoeter's unimpeach-
able * poultry.
397. ** Splendid portrait by Rembrandt
("L'Homme au grand chapeau"). An ex-
cellent and characteristic example of his art.
The light and shade, the painting of the hair,
and the masterly handling of the robe are all
in the great painter's noblest manner.
266 Belgium : Its Cities
425. Capital * water scene, by S. van Ruys-
dael : a ferry on the Meuse.
297. Hondecoeter. More poultry, this time
dead, with realistic nails, and other little tricks
to catch the great public.
183. Bol : ** Excellent portrait of Saskia,
wife of Rembrandt.
452. A very characteristic and excellent
Jan Steen, known as * The Rhetoricians, —
that is to say, members of a Literary Club or
Debating Society, one of whom is engaged
in reading his prize verses to a not too appre-
ciative audience outside. Even here, however,
Jan cannot omit his favourite touch of coarse
Dutch love-making, with a tavern-girl intro-
duced out of pure perversity.
Now, return through Corridors A and D to
Room VII., containing the early Italian pic-
tures. Few of these are of much value, and
as they are not connected with Flanders or
Brabant, I will not enlarge upon them. Right
of door,
148. An early Italian Adoration of the
Magi, where you may compare the Three
Kings, Joseph with the gift, the ox and ass,
etc. J with Flemish examples.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 267
149 is a characteristic example of St. Fran-
cis receiving the Stigmata. Study it for com-
parison with the Rubens at Ghent, and others.
147 is a set of panels containing events in
the History of Our Lady. I give the subjects,
running along the top row first, with nec-
essary brevity: Joadiim expelled from the
Temple ; Warned by the Angel ; Anna warned
by the Angel; Meeting of Joachim and Anna
at the Golden Gate; Birth of the Virgin;
Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple;
The Nativity; Adoration of the Magi;
Christ found in the Temple; Miracle at Cana;
Raising of Lazarus; Death of the Virgin,
with Christ receiving her soul as a new-bom
baby. All these may be studied as early ex-
amples of the subjects they represent. Above
them, 23 and 151 ; two Crucifixions of various
ages.
17. Good characteristic Carlo Crivelli of
St. Francis with the Stigmata.
154. Adam and Eve. Albani.
Above it, a tolerable Veronese of * Juno
scattering wealth into the lap of Venice, St.
Mark's lion beside her.
16. Beautiful Carlo Crivelli of * Our Lady
268 Belgium : Its Cities
and Child. This picture and No. 17 are parts
of a large altar-piece, the main portion of
which, a Pieta, is in the National Gallery in
London.
478. Vannuchi (not Perugino) : Leda and
the Swan.
227 is a good portrait of Mary of Austria.
146A. A tolerable Marriage of the Virgin.
401. Tintoretto: Portrait of a Venetian
gentleman.
402. Another by the same.
477. Perugino : Madonna and Child, with
the infant St. John of Florence, in a frame
of Delia Robbia work. This is one of the
best Italian pictures in this Gallery, but not
a good example. Near it, School of Man-
tegna, Christ and St. Thomas with St. John
the Baptist.
Room VIII., opposite, also contains later
Italian pictures, with a few French.
400 is a Martyrdom of St. Mark, by Tin-
toretto.
199 is a Holy Family, by Paolo Veronese,
with St. Theresa and St. Catherine.
198. By the same. Adoration of the Shep-
herds.
The Brussels Picture Gallery 269
The other works in the room do not call for
notice.
If you want further information about the
pictures in the Brussels Gallery, you will find
it in Lafenestre and Richtenberger's " La
Belgique," in the series of " La Peinture en
Europe."
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE CATHEDRAL OF BRUSSELS
'TPHE Cathedral of Brussels is dedicated to
-■- St. Gudula or Ste. Gudule^ and to St.
Michael the Archangel. Ste. Gudule is a holy
person who takes us back to the earlier ages
of Christianity among the Middle Franks.
She was a member of the family of Pepin
d'Heristal, the kinsman of Charlemagne, and
she died about 712. She became a nun at
Nivelles under her aunt, St. Gertrude. The
only fact of importance known as to her life
is that she used to rise early, in order to pay
her devotions at a distant church, whither she
guided her steps by the aid of a lantern. Satan
frequently extinguished this light, desiring to
lead her feet astray, but the prayers of the
saint as often rekindled it. Hence she is
usually represented carrying a lantern, with
270
The Cathedral of Brussels 271
the devil beside her, who endeavours to blow
it out.
In the tenth century, the body of Ste.
Gudule was brought to Brussels from Morseel ;
and in the eleventh (1047), Lambert, Count of
Louvain, built a church on this site above it:
but the existing building, still containing the.
body of the saint, was not begun till 1220.
More important, however, than Ste. Gudule,
in the later history of Brussels Cathedral, is
the painful mediaeval incident of the Stolen
Hosts. The Jew-baiting of the fourteenth
century led to a story that on Good Friday,
1370, certain impious Jews had stolen sixteen
consecrated Hosts from the Cathedral, and
sacrilegiously transfixed them with knives in
their synagogue. The Hosts miraculously
bled, which so alarmed the Jews that they
restored them to the altar. Their sacrilege
was discovered by the aid of an accomplice,
and on this evidence several Jews were burned
alive, and the rest banished from Brabant for
ever. A chapel on the site of the synagogue
still commemorates the event, and the Miracle
of the Hosts (as it is called) gives rise to
several works of art now remaining in the
272 Belgium : Its Cities
Cathedral. An annual ceremony (on the Sun-
day after the 15th of July) keeps green the
memory of the miraculous bleeding : the iden-
tical wafers are then exhibited.
Approach the Cathedral, if possible, from
the direction of the Grand' Place. It is built
so as to be first seen from this side, and
naturally turns its main West Front toward
the older city. Go to it, therefore, by the
street known as the Rue de la Montague and
the short (modem) Rue Ste. Gudule, which
lead straight up to the handsome (recent)
staircase and platform. The building loses
much by being approached sideways, as is
usually the case, from the Upper Town, which
did not exist at all in this direction when the
Cathedral was built. Consider it in relation to
the nucleus in the valley.
First examine the exterior. The accom-
panying rough plan will sufficiently explain
its various portions.
The fagade has two tall towers, and a rather
low gable-end, with large West Window. In
style, it approaches rather to German than to
French Gothic. Over the Principal Entrance
are (restored) figures of the Trinity, sur-
FAgADE OF THE CATHEDRAL, BRUSSELS.
The Cathedral of Brussels 273
rounded by angels, with the Twelve Apostles,
each bearing his symbol or the instruments of
his martyrdom. Below, on the central pillar,
the Three Magi, the middle one a Moor. High
up on the gable-end is the figure of Ste.
Gudule, the human patron, with the Devil
endeavouring to extinguish her lantern.
Above her is the other and angelic patron,
St. Michael. (These two figures also occur
on the middle of the carved wooden doors.)
At the sides, two bishops, probably St. Gery
and St. Amand. Though the sculpture is
modern, it is of interest from the point of
view of symbolism. The left portal has St.
Joachim, St. Anne, and the education of the
Virgin. The right portal has St. Joseph and
Our Lady with the Divine Infant.
Now, go round the building to the right,
to observe its arrangement. You pass first the
chapels or bays of the south aisle, with
weather-beaten sculpture, and then reach the
slightly projecting south transept. Beyond
the south portal, the choir is hidden by the
addition of a large projecting chapel (that
of Notre-Dame de Delivrance), whose archi-
tecture will be better understood from the
274 Belgium : Its Cities
interior. At the east end, you get a good
view of the Gothic choir and apse, with its
external chapels and flying buttresses. The
extreme East point is occupied by the ugly
little hexagonal rococo Chapel of the Mag-
dalen, a hideous addition of the eighteenth
century. Still passing round in the same
direction, you arrive at a second projecting
chapel (du Saint Sacrement), which balances
the first. The best general view is obtained
from the north side, taking in the beautiful
porch of the north transept. (The handsome
Louis XVI. building opposite is the Banque
Nationale.)
Visit the interior between twelve and four,
when the doors are closed, but will be opened
for you by a sacristan in the south portal, at
a charge of fifty centimes per head. You will
then be able to inspect the whole place peace-
ably at your leisure. Take your opera-glasses.
The Cathedral as an interior is disappoint-
ing. It contains no pictures of any importance,
and its architecture is less striking within than
without. The stained glass, indeed, is famous ;
none of it, however, is mediaeval. The best
windows date only from the High Renais-
The Cathedral of Brussels 275
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276 Belgium : Its Cities
sance; the remainder are seventeenth century
or modern.
Walk first into the centre of the church,
where you can gain a good idea of the high
choir, with its apse and triforium of graceful
Early Gothic architecture, as well as of the
short transepts, the two additional chapels,
right and left, the nave and single aisles, and
the great west window.
Now, begin the tour of the church with the
south aisle, to the left as you enter. The glass
here is modern. It represents the story of the
Stolen Hosts, some of the subjects being dif-
ficult to decipher. We see the Jew bribing
a Christian, who removes the Hosts in a
monstrance: then the Christian departing
from the Jewish Synagogue with his ill-
gotten gains. The third window I do not
understand. After that, we see the Jews be-
trayed by one of their number; the Miracle
of the Blood, with their horror and astonish-
ment ; the Recovery of the Hosts ; and in the
north aisle, their Return to the Church in
procession, and the various miracles after-
ward wrought by them. I cannot pretend
to have deciphered all these accurately. The
VERBRUGGEN. — PULPIT IN THE CATHEDRAL, BRUSSELS.
The Cathedral of Brussels 277
nave has the usual Flemish figures of the
Twelve Apostles set against the piers, most
of them of the seventeenth century. The
great west window has the Last Judgment,
by Floris, a poor composition, overcrowded
with indistinguishable figures.
The pulpit, by Verbruggen, is one of the
usual unspeakable abominations of seventeenth
century wood-carving. Below are Adam and
Eve driven from Paradise: above, on the
canopy, the Virgin and Infant Saviour wound
the serpent's head with the cross : the Tree of
Life, supporting the actual platform, gives
shelter to incredible birds and animals. This
ugly object was made for the Jesuits' Church
at Louvain, and given to the Cathedral by
Maria Theresa on the suppression of the So-
ciety of Jesus.
Return to the transepts. The window in
the north transept represents Charles V., kneel-
ing, attended by his patron, Charlemagne, who
was a canonized saint, but who bears the sword
and orb of empire. Behind him, Charles's
wife, Isabella, with her patroness, St. Elizabeth
of Hungary, holding the crown. This win-
dow, erected in 1538, from designs by Bernard
278 Belgium : Its Cities
van Orley, was the gift of the Emperor. That
in the south transept represents the Holy
Trinity, with King Louis of Hungary kneel-
ing in adoration, attended by his patron, St.
Louis of France. Behind him is his Queen,
Marie (sister of Charles V.), with her patron,
the Blessed Virgin. This window also is by
Van Orley.
Now, enter the chapel by the north tran-
sept, that of the Holy Sacrament, erected
in 1535 — 39, in honour of the Miraculous
(Stolen) Hosts, which are still preserved
here, and which are carried in procession an-
nually on the Sunday following the 15th of
July. The windows in this chapel, each of
which bears its date above, were placed in it
immediately after its erection, and are the best
in the Cathedral. They exhibit the style of
the Transitional Renaissance. Each window
shows, above, the story of the Stolen Hosts,
with, below, the various donors and their pa-
trons. First window as you enter : Above,
the Bribery: below, King John IH. of Por-
tugal with his patron, St. John-Baptist; and
Queen Catherine, his wife (sister of Charles
v.), with her patron, St. Catherine, holding
The Cathedral of Brussels 279
her sword of martyrdom and trampling on the
tyrant Maximin (all by Michael Coxde).
Second window : above, the Hosts insulted
in the Synagogue: below, Louis of Hungary,
with his patron, St. Louis; and Marie, his
wife (sister of Charles V.), with her patron-
ess, Our Lady (Coxcie). Third window:
above, same subject as in the third of the
south aisle — perhaps the attack on the Jews :
below, Francis L of France, with his patron,
St. Francis, receiving the Stigmata; behind
him, Eleonora, his wife (sister of Charles V.),
with her patroness, St. Helena (Bernard van
Orley). Fourth window: above. Denuncia-
tion of the Jews : below, Ferdinand, brother
of Charles V., with his patron, St. Ferdinand;
and his wife, Anne, with her patron, St. Anna
(Bernard van Orley). The end window rep-
resents the Adoration of the Holy Sacra-
ment, and of the Lamb that was slain, in a
composition suggested by the Van Eyck at
Ghent. Below, to the left are an Emperor
and Empress (Charles V. and Isabella), a
king and queen, and other representatives of
the world secular : to the right are a pope,
a cardinal, bishops, prophets, and other rep-
28o Belgium : Its Cities
resentatives of the church or the world
ecclesiastical.
Now, proceed to the opposite chapel, by the
south transept, that of Our Lady of Deliver-
ance (Notre-Dame de Delivrance). This
chapel was erected in 1649 — 53' to balance
that in the north transept. Its windows, made
after designs by Van Thulden, in 1656, rep-
resent the continued decadence of the art of
glass-painting. The subjects are taken from
the History of Our Lady, above, with the
donors and their patrons, princes of the House
of Austria, below. Unlike the last, the sub-
jects here begin at the inner end, near the altar.
First window : the Presentation of Our Lady
in the Temple. She mounts the steps to the
High Priest: below are St. Joachim and St.
Anna, Second window : The Marriage of the
Virgin. Third window : The Annunciation,
with the Angel Gabriel and the Dove descend-
ing in a glory. Fourth window : The Visi-
tation of Mary to Elizabeth : the figure of
Mary, in its odd hat, taken from the Rubens
in Antwerp Cathedral. The Austrian Princes
and Princesses below, in the insipid taste of
the seventeenth century, have commemorated
The Cathedral of Brussels 281
their own names so legibly on the bases that
I need not enumerate them.
Now, return to the north transept, to make
the tour of the ambulatory. At the entrance
to the apse, left, is a colossal statue of the
patroness, Ste. Gudule, with the Devil under
her feet. The stained glass of the apse is good
modern. Notice the fine pillars to your right.
The hexagonal rococo Chapel of St. Mary
Magdalen, at the end of the apse, has modern
windows of, left and right, the two patrons,
and St. Michael and St. Gudula, the latter with
the lantern and Devil : andj Centre, the
Trinity. Exit from the apse: left, gilded
statue of the other patron, St. Michael, to bal-
ance the St. Gudula. Beside it, curious
wooden Easter Sepulchre, with Nicodemus,
Joseph of Arimathea, the Mater Dolorosa, and
the Maries. Above it, the Risen Christ, with
Roman soldiers on the pediment. Fine view
from near this point of the Choir and Tran-
septs.
The high choir has in its apse stained-glass
windows (use your opera-glass), representing
Our Lady, and the patron saints, with various
kings and queens in adoration (middle of the
282 Belgium : Its Cities
sixteenth century). The portraits are (i)
Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy: (2)
Philippe le Beau, their son, with his wife,
Johanna the Mad, of Castile: (3) Charles V.
and his brother Ferdinand, sons of Phillipe:
(4) Philip 11. of Spain, son of Charles V.,
with his second wife. The architecture here
is Early Gothic and interesting.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE UPPER TOWN
"PROM the Grand' Place, two main lines
-■- of streets lead toward the Upper Town.
The first, which we have already followed,
runs straight to the Cathedral; the second,
known as the Rue de la Madeleine and then
as the Montague de la Cour, mounts the hill
to the Place Royale.
The city of the merchants lay about the
H6tel-de-Ville, the Senne^ and the old navi-
gation. The town and the court of the Counts
of Louvain and Dukes of Brabant clustered
about the Castle on the high ground over-
looking the Lower City. On this hill, the
Caudenberg, the Counts of Louvain built
their first palace, close to what is now the Place
Royale. Their castle was burnt down in 1731,
but the neighbourhood has ever since been the
seat of the Belgian court for the time being —
283
284 Belgium : Its Cities
Burgnndian, Austrian, Dutch, or Coburger.
All this quarter, however, has been so greatly-
altered by modern " improvements " that
scarcely a relic of antiquity is now left in it,
with the exception of a few mediaeval churches.
In spite of the competition of the Central
or Inner Boulevards, the Montague de la Cour,
which mounts directly from the Grand' Place
to the Cour (the residence of the Dukes or
afterward of the Emperors and the Austrian
Viceroys), still remains the principal street
for shopping in Brussels. It takes one
straight into the Place Royale, one of the finest
modern squares in Europe, occupying in part
the site of the old Castle. Its centre is filled
by the famous * statue of Godfrey de Bouillon
by Simonis : the great Crusader is represented
on horseback, waving his banner, and crying
his celebrated cry of " Dieu le veut ! " The
unimpressive Church, with Corinthian pillars,
a crude fresco in the pediment, and a green
cupola, which faces you as you enter, is St.
Jacques sur Caudenberg. To right and left
you open up vistas of the Rue de la Regence
and the Rue Royale. The former is closed by
the huge mass of the new Palais de Justice.
The Upper Town 285
The latter ends in the great domed church of
Ste. Marie de Schaerbeck.
In order to gain a proper conception of the
Upper Town, one of the best-arranged in
Europe, you must take the Place Royale and
the Ancienne Cour (just below it) as your
starting-point. The Place, the Park, and the
streets about them were all laid out, under
Austrian rule, at the end of the eighteenth
century (1774) by the architect Guimard, who
thus made Brussels into the handsome town
we now see it. Turning to the right from the
Place Royale, toward the Rue de la Regence,
you come first to the gateway of a courtyard,
guarded by sentinels. Disregarding these,
push past them into the court as if the place
belonged to you. The quadrangle you have
entered is the site of the old Palace of the
Dukes of Brabant, for which the present build-
ing, known as the Ancienne Cour, was substi-
tuted by the Austrian Stadtholders in 1731
after the great fire. The first building to your
left is occupied by the Royal Museum and
Library. The portion of the building at the
end of the court, in a semicircular recess, con-
tains the Modern Picture Gallery (open daily
286 Belgium : Its Cities
from ten to four, free). In this gallery are
collected the chief works of the modern Bel-
gian School of Painters, which the tourist
should not omit to study, but a full description
of which lies wholly outside the scope of these
Guide Books.
This modern Belgian School was started in
Antwerp, after the Revolution of 1830. It an-
swered at first to the romantic movement in
France (headed by Delaroche, Gericault, and
others), but the Belgian painters dealt mainly
in historical pictures drawn from the struggles
for liberty in their own country. The most
distinguished of these " romantic " Belgian
artists were Louis Gallait and Edouard de
Biefve, whose chief national works are to be
seen in this gallery. Though they belong to
a type which now strikes us as mannered and
artificial, not to say insipid, they may help to
impress historical facts on the spectator's
memory. A very different side of the national
movement will meet us at Antwerp. The later
Belgian School has been gradually swamped
by Parisian tendencies.
Returning to the Place Royale, and con-
tinuing along the Rue de la Regence, the first
The Upper Town 2%y
building on the left closed with a grille is the
Palace of the Comte de Flandre. Nearly op-
posite it (with four granite pillars) is the
Palais des Beaux-Arts, containing the Ancient
Pictures (already noticed). Further on to the
right we arrive at the church of Notre-Dame-
des-Victoires (" Eglise du Sablon"), to be
described in detail hereafter. The pretty and
coquettish little garden on the left is the Square
or Place du Petit Sablon. It contains a modem
monument to Counts Egmont and Hoorn, the
martyrs of Belgian freedom, by Fraikin, and
is worth a visit. The little statuettes on the
parapet of the square represent artisans of the
old Guilds of Brussels. The building at the
back of the Place is the Palace of the Duke
d'Arenberg: its central part was Count Eg-
mont's mansion (erected 1548). Further on,
to the left, come the handsome building of the
Conservatoire de Musique and then the Jewish
Synagogue. The end of the street is blocked
by the gigantic and massive fagade of the new
Palais de Justice, one of the hugest buildings
of our period, imposing by its mere colossal
size and its almost Egyptian solidity, but not
288 Belgium : Its Cities
architecturally pleasing. The interior need
not trouble you.
Northward from the Place Royale, again,
stretches the Rue Royale, along which, as we
walk, we have ever before us the immense gilt
dome of Ste. Marie de Schaerbeck. This fine
street was admirably laid out in 1774 by the
architect Guimard, who was the founder of
the modern plan of Brussels. It is a fine prom-
enade, along the very edge of the hill,
beautifully varied, and affording several
attractive glimpses over the earlier town by
means of breaks in the line of houses, left on
purpose by Guimard, some of which have,
however, been unfortunately built up. Start-
ing from the Place Royale, we have first, on
our right, the Hotel Bellevue; beyond which,
round the comer, facing the Park, extends the
unprepossessing white fagade of the King's
Palace (eighteenth century, rebuilt). Then,
again on the right, we arrive at the pretty
little Park, laid out by Guimard in 1774, on
the site of the old garden of the Dukes of
Brabant. This is a pleasant lounging-place,
animated in the afternoon, when the band
plays. It contains ponds, sculpture, nurse-
The Upper Town 289
maids, children, and one of the principal
theatres.
Continuing still northward, we pass the
Statue of Belliard, in the first break, and then
the Montague du Pare, on the left, leading
direct to the Lower Town. At the end of the
Park, the Rue de la Loi runs to the right, east-
ward, toward the Exhibition Buildings. The
great block of public offices in this street, fac-
ing the Park, includes the Chamber of Repre-
sentatives (Palais de la Nation) and the
principal Ministries. Beyond these we get,
on the left, a glimpse of the Cathedral, and on
the right a number of radiating streets which
open out toward the fashionable Quartier
Leopold. Then^ on the left, we arrive at the
Place du Congres with its Doric column,
commemorating the Congress which ratified
the Independence in 183 1. It has a hundred
and ninety-three spiral steps, and can be
ascended for the sake of its admirable * view,
the best general outlook to be obtained over
Brussels. (A few sous should be given to the
guardian.) The prospect from the summit
(morning light best) will enable you to
identify every principal building in the city
290 Belgium : Its Cities
(good map by Kiessling, 72, Montagne de la
Cour).
Continuing our route, the street to the right
leads to the little Place de la Liberte. Beyond
this, the Rue Royale goes on to the Outer
Boulevards, and finally ends at Ste. Marie de
Schaerbeck, a gigantic modern Byzantine
church, more splendid than beautiful, but a
good termination for an afternoon ramble.
The Outer Boulevards of Brussels, which
ring round the original fourteenth century
city, have now been converted into magnificent
promenades, planted with trees, and supplied
with special lanes for riders. These Boule-
vards, perhaps the handsomest in the world,
replace the ancient walls^ erected in 1357 —
1379, when the town had already reached
such considerable limits. Most of what is in-
teresting or important in Brussels is still to be
found within the irregular pentagonal ring
of the Boulevards. A pleasant way of seeing
the whole round is to take the electric tram,
from the Gare du Nord, by the Upper Boule-
vards, to the Gare du Midi. You first mount
the steep hill, with the Botanical Gardens on
your left, backed by the extensive hothouses.
The Upper Town 291
The line then crosses the Rue Royale, looking
on the left toward Ste. Marie de Schaerbeck,
and on the right toward the Place Royale.
As you turn the corner, you have on your
left a small triangular garden, and on your
right the circular Place des Barricades, with
a statue of the great anatomist Vesalius,
physician to Charles V., and an indirect victim
of the Inquisition. The rail then bends round
the Boulevard du Regent, with glimpses (to
the right) of the Park, and (to the left) of
the Squares in the Quartier Leopold. You
next pass, on the right, the Palais des
Academies in its neatly kept garden, beyond
which you arrive at the private gardens of the
Royal Palace and the Place du Trone. Hence
you continue to the Place de Namur and the
Fontaine de Brouckere, and continue on to the
Place Louise, at which point the open Avenue
Louise leads direct to the pleasant Bois de la
Cambre. The Boulevard de Waterloo carries
you on to the Porte de Hal, the only one of the
old gateways still standing. This is a massive
fortress of irregular shape, built in 1381, and
it was used by the Spanish authorities in the
time of Alva as the Bastille of Brussels. The
292 Belgium : Its Cities
interior (open free, daily) contains a fine wind-
ing staircase and a small collection of arms
and armour, with a little Ethnographical
Museum, which is worth ten minutes' visit
in passing. Hence, the Boulevard du Midi
conducts you straight to the Gare du Midi,
from which point you can return, on foot or
by tram, through the Inner Boulevards or
diagonally through the old town, to your hotel.
The remaincier of the Outer Boulevards,
leading from the Gare du Midi to the Gare
du Nord by the western half of the town, is
commonly known as the Lower Boulevards,
(Note the distinction of Upper, Lower, and
Inner.) It passes through a comparatively
poor quarter, and is much less interesting than
the other half. The only objects of note on its
circuit are the slaughter-houses and the basins
of the canal. Nevertheless, a complete tour
of the Boulevards, Upper, Lower, and Inner,
will serve to give you a better general concep-
tion of Brussels within the old walls than you
can otherwise obtain.
I cannot pretend in this Guide to point out
all the objects of interest in Modern Brussels,
within this great ring. Speaking generally,
The Upper Town 293
the reader will find pleasant walks for spare
moments in the quarter between the Rue
Royale or the Rue de la Regence and the Up-
per Boulevards. This district is high, healthy,
and airy, and is chiefly given over to official
buildings. On the other hand, the quarter
between these two streets and the Inner Boule-
vards, especially southward about the Place St.
Jean and the Rue de I'Etuve, leads through
some interesting portions of seventeenth cen-
tury and eighteenth century Brussels, with
occasional good domestic architecture. The
district lying west of the Inner Boulevards is
of little interest, save in its central portion al-
ready indicated. It is the quarter of docks,
entrepots, and the more squalid side of whole-
sale business.
The immense area of Brussels outside the
Outer Boulevards I cannot pretend to deal
with. Pleasant walks may be taken at the east
end of the town about the Chaussee de
Louvain, the Square Marie-Louise, the Ex-
hibition Grounds, the Pare Leopold (near
which is the too famous Musee Wiertz), and
the elevated land in the eastern quarter gen-
erally. The Bois de la Cambre, the true park
294 Belgium : Its Cities
of Brussels, makes a delightful place to walk
or drive in the afternoon, especially on Sun-
days. It somewhat resembles the Bois de
Boulogne, but is wilder and prettier. Perhaps
the most satisfactory way of visiting it is to
take the tram to the gate of the wood, and
then walk through it.
There are three other churches, beside the
Cathedral, in the neighbourhood of the Place
Royale, which you may go to see, if you have
plenty of time left, but which you need not
otherwise trouble about. The three can be
easily combined in a single short round.
Go down the Montague du Pare, and take
the first turning to the left. Rue des Douze
Apotres, which will bring you direct to the
little Chapelle de I'Expiation, erected in 1436,
on the site of the synagogue where the Stolen
Hosts were profaned^ and in expiation of the
supposed crime. The exterior of the building
has been modernized, and indeed the whole
is of little interest, save in connection with
the Cathedral and the Stolen Hosts; but a
glance inside is not undesirable. The interior,
flamboyant Gothic, is thoroughly well dec-
orated throughout, in modern polychrome,
The Upper Town 295
with scenes from the Gospel History. The
apse has good modem stained-glass windows,
and frescoes of angels holding the instruments
of the Passion. It is separated from the nave
by a high rood-loft, without a screen. Modem
taste has here almost entirely ignored the pain-
ful and malicious story of the Stolen Wafers.
Now, continue down the Rue des Sols as
far as the Rue de I'lmperatrice (where a slight
detour to the right takes you in front of the
Universite Libre, a large and somewhat im-
posing, but uninteresting building). Con-
tinue rather to the left down the Rue de I'lm-
peratrice, crossing the Montague de la Cour,
into the Rue de TEmpereur and the Rue d'Or,
till you arrive at the Place de la Chapelle,
containing the church of Notre-Dame de la
Chapelle — after the Cathedral, the finest
mediaeval church of Brussels. The exterior
has lately (alas!) been quite too much re-
stored. It shows a fine nave and aisles of the
fifteenth century, and a much lower and very
beautiful choir of the thirteenth century, with
some Romanesque details of an earlier build-
ing (tenth century?). Walk once round the
church, to observe the exterior architecture.
296 Belgium : Its Cities
The west front is massive rather than beauti-
ful. The sculpture over the door '(the Trinity
with angels, and Our Lady) is modern. Over
the southern portal is a modern relief, in a
Romanesque tympanum, representing- the
Coronation of Our Lady by God the Father
and the Son. The Romanesque and transi-
tional work of the beautiful low choir and
apse has unfortunately been over-restored.
The interior, with its fine nave and aisles, is
impressive, especially as you look from the
centre down toward the west end. The round
pillars of the nave are handsome, and have
the usual figures of the Twelve Apostles. The
pulpit is one of the familiar seventeenth cen-
tury monstrosities, with palms, and Elijah in
the Wilderness. The interior of the pretty
little apse has been so completely modernized
as to leave it little interest. There are a few
good pictures of the School of Rubens (De
Crayer, Van Thulden, etc.).
On emerging from the church, follow the
tramway line up the hill to the market-place
of the Grand Sablon. Good views in every
direction as you enter the Place. The square
is animated on Fridays and Sundays, when
The Upper Town 297
markets are held here. Pass through the
market-place, which contains an absurd eight-
eenth century monument, erected by a Marquis
of Ailesbury of the period, in gratitude for
the hospitality he had received from the citi-
zens of Brussels, and continue on to the Rue
de la Regence, passing on your right the
beautiful apse of the church of Notre-Dame-
des-Victoires, now unhappily threatened with
restoration. The entrance is in the Rue de
la Regence, and the church is not oriented.
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, or Notre-Dame
du Sablon, was founded in 1304 by the Guild
of Crossbowmen; but the existing late Gothic
building is almost entirely of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. It has been over-restored
in parts, and the beautiful crumbling exterior
of the apse is now threatened with disfigure-
ment.
The interior is pleasing. Over the Main
Entrance, within, is a curious ex voto of a ship,
in commemoration of the arrival of a sacred
image, said to have floated miraculously by
sea.
The first chapel to your left as you enter has
a * tomb of Count Flaminio Garnier, secretary
298 Belgium : Its Cities
to the Duke of Parma, partly restored, but
with fine original alabaster reliefs of the early
Renaissance, representing the History of the
Virgin. The series begins below; (i) Meet-
ing of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate;
(2) The Birth of the Virgin; (3) The Pres-
entation of the Virgin in the Temple. Then,
above: (4) Annunciation; note the relative
positions of the angel and Our Lady, the lily,
the prie-dieu, and the loggia in the back-
ground; (5) the Visitation, with the usual
arch; and (6) the Presentation of Christ in
the Temple.
The apse has restored figures of saints
(named) in imitation of those which were
discovered in mined fresco during the restora-
tion. They are a good typical collection of the
saints most venerated in the Low Countries
in the Middle Ages.
The nave has the usual figures of Apostles,
named, and a small open triforium just below
the clerestory. The pulpit has on its face a
medallion of Our Lady ; right and left, Moses
and St. Augustine. Below, the four beasts
of the Evangelists.
You need not trouble about any other
The Upper Town 299
special building in Brussels; but you may oc-
cupy yourself pleasantly with many walks
through all parts of the city.
You are now in a position to understand
the growth and spread of Brussels. From the
very beginning, the merchant town occupied the
valley, while the capital of the counts, dukes,
or sovereigns spread over the hill, in the
neighbourhood of what are still significantly
called the Montague de la Cour and the Place
Royale. To this day the two contrasted parts
of the city are broadly distinct. The valley
speaks Flemish; the mountain, French. In
the valley stand all the municipal and mer-
cantile buildings — the H6tel-de-Ville, the
Bourse, the Post-Office, the markets, and the
principal places of wholesale business. On
the hill stand the Royal Palace, the Govern-
ment Offices, the Legislative Body, the Minis-
tries, the Palais de Justice, and the whole of
the National Museums and collections. From
this point of view again, in our own day, the
valley is municipal, and the hill national. The
contrasted aspects of the Inner Boulevards and
the Rue de la Regence well mark the differ-
ence. In the valley, you will find, once more,
3CX) Belgium : Its Cities
the hotels of commerce and of the passing
traveller; on the hill, those frequented by
ambassadors and the wealthier class of for-
eign tourists. Near the Place Royale were
situated the houses of the old Brabant nobility,
the Egmonts and the Cuylenburgs; as at the
present day are situated those of the Arenbergs
and the De Chimays.
Historically, the spread of the town from
its centre began toward the Castle of the
Counts of Louvain and Dukes of Brabant, in
the Ancienne Cour, now occupied by the Royal
Library and the Modern Picture Gallery, as
well as toward the ecclesiastical quarter of the
Cathedral and the Chancellerie. The antiq-
uity of this portion of the Upper Town is
well marked by the continued existence of the
mediaeval churches of Notre-Dame de la
Chapelle, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, and the
Chapelle de I'Expiation. Under the Bur-
gundian princes, Brussels ranked second to
Ghent and Bruges; but after the Hapsburgs
obtained possession of the Low Countries, it
was made the principal residence of the sov-
ereigns in their western domains. Charles V.
inhabited it as one of his chief capitals. Under
The Upper Town 301
Philip II. of Spain, it became the official resi-
dence of the Stadtholder of the Netherlands;
and Margaret of Parma, who bore that office,
held her court in the old Palace. From that
time forth Brussels was recognized as the com-
mon capital of the southern how Countries.
The Austrian Stadtholders habitually lived
here ; and when, after the Napoleonic upheaval,
Belgium and Holland were united into a single
kingdom, Brussels was made the alternative
capital with Amsterdam. By the time that
Belgium asserted her independence in 1830,
Brussels had thus obtained the prescriptive
right to become the seat of government of the
new nation.
The old Palace had been burnt down in
1 73 1, and the outer vnngs of the existing
Palace were built by the Austrians shortly
after. It was they, too, who laid out the
Rue Royale and Place Royale, with the Park
and its surroundings, as we still see them at
the present day. To the Austrian rulers are
aJso due the Parliamentary Buildings: but
the Palais des Academies was built under
Dutch rule in 1829. Since 1830 the town
has been greatly beautified and improved.
302 Belgium : Its Cities
The Inner Boulevards have been opened
through the labyrinth of streets in the old
centre; the Palais de Justice has been built,
the Quartier Leopold has grown up, and
great edifices have been erected at Schaerbeck
and elsewhere on the outskirts.
At the present day, of Brussels within the
Boulevards, the Hill District is governmental
and fashionable; the Central District, munic-
ipal and commercial; the Western District
contains the markets, basins, canals, and whole-
sale business side of the city. Without the
Boulevards, fashion has spread eastward to-
ward the Bois de la Cambre and the Pare
Leopold. The poorer districts run southward
and westward. But every part of the city is
amply provided with wide thoroughfares and
open breathing-spaces. In this respect, Brus-
sels is one of the best arranged cities in
Europe.
CHAPTER XX.
THE SURROUNDINGS OF BRUSSELS
THE only excursion of interest in the im-
mediate neighbourhood of Brussels is
that to Laeken (recommended), which may
be taken by tram from the Inner Boulevards,
the Gare du Nord^ the Gare du Midi, Bourse,
etc. Cars run every ten minutes. The modern
Church of St. Mary at Laeken is a handsome
unfinished building. A little to the right lie
the Park and the Royal Chateau, inaccessible
and unimportant. The road behind the church
ascends the Montague du Tonnerre, a little
hill with a Monument to Leopold I., not un-
like the Albert Memorial in London. A good
* view of Brussels is obtained from the summit
of the monument, ascended by a winding stair-
case. (No fee.) The easiest way to make
this excursion is by carriage in the afternoon.
Unless you are a military man or a student
303
304 Belgium : Its Cities
of tactics, I do not advise you to undertake
the dull and wearisome excursion to Waterloo.
The battle-field is hot and shadeless in sum-
mer, cold and draughty in spring and autumn.
The points of interest, such as they are, lie
at considerable distances. Waterloo is coun-
try, and ugly country — no more. The gen-
eral traveller who desires to be conducted
round the various strategic landmarks of the
field will find his wants amply catered for by
Baedeker. But I advise him to forego that
foregone disappointment.
The time saved by not visiting Waterloo
may, however^ be well devoted to a morning
excursion to Louvain. This ancient and im-
portant town, which should be visited both
on account of its magnificent H6tel-de-Ville,
and in order to make a better acquaintance with
Dierick Bouts, the town-painter, can be con-
veniently reached by train from the Gare du
Nord. The best trains take little more than
half an hour to do the journey. A single morn-
ing is sufficient for the excursion, especially
if you start early. Wednesday is the most
convenient day, as a quick train then returns
about half-past one. (Consult Bradshaw.)
The Surroundings of Brussels 305
A good lunch can be obtained in the large
white building on the left-hand side of the
H6tel-de-Ville. (It is a private club, but con-
tains a public restaurant, on the right within,
to which, push through boldly.) If you have
Conway, take him with you on this excur-
sion, to compare the doubtful Roger van der
Weyden at St. Pierre with the woodcut he
gives of its supposed original at Madrid. Read
before you start (or on the way) his admirable
accounts of Roger van der Weyden and
Dierick Bouts.
Louvain is, in a certain sense, the mother
city of Brussels. Standing on its own little
navigable river, the Dyle, it was, till the end
of the fourteenth century, the capital of the
Counts and of the Duchy of Brabant. It had
a large population of weavers, engaged in the
cloth trade. Here, as elsewhere, the weavers
formed the chief bulwark of freedom in the
population. In 1378, however, after a popular
rising, Duke Wenceslaus besieged and con-
quered the city; and the tyrannical sway of
the nobles, whom he reintroduced, aided by
the rise of Ghent, or, later, of Antwerp, drove
away trade from the city. Many of the
3o6 Belgium : Its Cities
weavers emigrated to Holland and England,
where they helped to establish the woollen
industry.
During the early Middle Ages, Louvain
was also celebrated for its University, founded
in 1426, and suppressed by the French in 1797.
It was reestablished by the Dutch in 1797.
but abandoned by the Belgian Government
in 1834, and then started afresh in the next
year as a free private Roman Catholic Uni-
versity. Charles V. was educated here.
The modern town has shrunk far away
within its ancient ramparts, whose site is now
for the most part occupied by empty Boule-
vards. It is still the stronghold of Roman
Catholic theology in Belgium.
As you emerge from the station, you come
upon a small Place, adorned with a statue (by
Geefs) of Sylvain van der Weyer, a revolu-
tionary of 1830, and long Belgian Minister
in England. Take the long straight street up
which the statue looks. This leads direct to
the Grand' Place, the centre of the town,
whence the chief streets radiate in every direc-
tion, the ground-plan recalling that of a
Roman city.
The Surroundings of Brussels 307
The principal building in the Grand' Place
is the H6tel-de-Ville, standing out with three
sides visible from the Place, and probably the
finest civic building in Belgium. It is of very
florid late Gothic architecture, between 1448
and 1463. Begin first with the left fagade,
exhibiting three main storeys, with handsome
Gothic windows. Above come a gallery and
then a gable-end, flanked by octagonal turrets,
and bearing a similar turret on its summit.
In the centre of the gable is a little projecting
balcony of the kind so common on Belgian
civic buildings. The architecture of the
niches and turrets is of very fine florid Gothic,
in better taste than that at Ghent of nearly
the same period. The statues which fill the
niches are modern. Those of the first storey
represent personages of importance in the
local history of the city: those of the second,
the various mediaeval guilds or trades : those
of the third, the Counts of Louvain and Dukes
of Brabant of all ages. The bosses or cor-
bels which support the statues are carved
with scriptural scenes in high relief. I give
the subjects of a few (beginning on the left) :
the reader must decipher the remainder for
3o8 Belgium ; Its Cities
himself. The Court of Heaven: The Fall of
the Angels into the visible Jaws of Hell :
Adam and Eve in the Garden : The Expulsion
from Paradise : The Death of Abel, with
quaint rabbits escaping: The Drunkenness
of Noah : Abraham and Lot : etc.
The main facade has an entrance staircase,
and two portals in the centre, above which
are figures of St. Peter, to the left, and Our
Lady and Child, to the right, the former in
compliment to the patron of the church op-
posite. This facade has three storeys, deco-
rated with Gothic windows, and capped by a
gallery parapet, above which rises the high-
pitched roof, broken by several quaint small
windows. At either end are the turrets of the
gable, with steps to ascend them. The rows
of statues represent as before (in four
tiers) persons of local distinction, mediaeval
guilds, and the princes who have ruled Bra-
bant and Louvain. Here again the sculptures
beneath the bosses should be closely inspected.
Among the most conspicuous are the Golden
Calf, the Institution of Sacrifices in the Taber-
nacle, Balaam's Ass, Susannah and the Elders,
etc.
The Surroundings of Brussels 309
The gable-end to the right, ill seen from
the narrow street, resembles in its features the
one opposite it, but this fa-gade is even finer
than the others.
The best general view is obtained from the
the door of St. Pierre, or near either corner of
the Place diagonally opposite.
Do not trouble about the interior.
Opposite the H6tel-de-Ville stands the
church of St. Pierre, originally erected in
1040, but entirely rebuilt in 1430, to which
date the whole existing edifice belongs. It is
a handsome late Gothic building, with a fine
West Front, never completed, and a truncated
tower. The central west window is imposing,
but the ruined portal has a depressing effect.
Walk round the church once outside to observe
its exterior architecture, obscured toward the
Grand' Place by the usual agglomeration of
small Renaissance houses. The main en-
trance is in the south transept; above it
stands a poor modern statue of the patron, St.
Peter. The high choir, with its flying but-
tresses, would form a fine element if the
houses were cleared away, so as to afford a
view of the chapels below.
3IO Belgium : Its Cities
Now view the interior. Go at once into
the body of the church. The general
effect is handsome, but the walls are cold
and whitewashed. The church has a fine
nave, with single aisles, short transepts, high
choir, and ambulatory. Tlie nave, transepts,
and choir, have all an exactly similar clere-
story, with an unusual triforium of open
latticework, and tracery in the same style in
the spandrils of the arches.
Go down to the west end of the nave. The
entrance doors at this end have good but not
beautiful carved woodwork of the Renaissance.
Left aisle. First chapel. Late Gothic cop-
per font, with large crane, to support a
heavy iron cover, now removed. The other
chapels on this side contain nothing of interest.
Right aisle. First chapel (of San Carlo
Borromeo), has an altar-piece, copied from
one by De Grayer, carried off by the French
and now at Nancy. It represents San Carlo
ministering to the plague-stricken at Milan.
Also, a triptych, by Van de Baeren, 1594.
Centre, St. Dorothea beheaded. Her head
praising God. On the left, her trial before
the governor, Fabricius. On the right, her
The Surroundings of Brussels 311
torture in enduring the sight of her sister's
martyrdom. Statue of San Carlo by Geefs.
Second chapel, of the Armourers, has a rail-
ing with arms and cannon, and contains an old
blackened crucifix, and much venerated because
it is said to have caught a thief who had en-
tered the church to steal the treasures.
The pulpit is a carved wooden monstrosity
of the eighteenth century, representing, be-
hind, the Repentance of Peter, with the cock
crowing, a maladroit subject for a church dedi-
cated to the saint. In front, the Conversion of
St. Paul, with his horse overthrown. Above
are two palm-trees.
A little beyond, in a chapel to the right, is
a triptych, the Descent from the Cross (cov-
ered, the Sacristan will open it : one franc) ;
usually attributed to Roger van der Weyden,
but much disputed. It is probably a smaller
(altered) copy of the famous composition in
the Escurial at Madrid (see Conway). The
central picture has Christ supported by Joseph
of Arimathea and Nicodemus, with the faint-
ing Madonna, St. John, and the other Maries.
The singularly unpleasing fat cook-like Mag-
dalen, in a rich robe, is a constant feature in
312 Belgium: Its Cities
the group of Descents from the Cross by
Roger and his pupils. Study this picture.
The left panel has a good portrait of the donor,
with his two sons, accompanied by his patron
St. James the Greater (or St. William?). The
right panel has his wife, with her two daugh-
ters and her patroness, St. Adelaide (or St.
Elizabeth of Hungary, holding the crown
which she gave up for the Franciscan profes-
sion?).
The choir is separated from the transepts
and nave by a very handsome and elaborate
* rood-loft, in the finest flamboyant late
Gothic style (1450), one of the best still re-
maining examples in Europe. It supports a
Crucifixion, with St. John and Our Lady.
Its arcade of three handsome arches is sur-
mounted by a sculptured balustrade, contain-
ing figures of saints (the Saviour, Our Lady
and Child, the Twelve Apostles with the in-
struments of their martyrdom, the Doctors
of the Church, and a few others). Examine
carefully.
Now, pass behind the choir, into the am-
bulatory, beginning on the north, or left side.
The first recess has a fine medi?eval tomb of
The Surroundings of Brussels 313
Mathilde de Flandre. On your right, in the
choir, a little further on, is a beautiful late
Gothic tabernacle or canopy of 1450, gilded,
and containing scenes from the Passion. Just
behind the high altar is a curious little fif-
teenth century relief: Centre, the Crucifixion
with St. John and Our Lady : Right, The Res-
urrection, with sleeping Roman soldiers : left,
The donor, with his patron, St. John the Bap-
tist.
The second chapel beyond the High Altar
contains ** The Last Supper, by Dierick
Bouts. This picture forms the central piece
of a triptych, painted for the Confraternity
of the Holy Sacrament. The left wing of it
is now at Munich, and the right at Berlin.
It represented, when entire, the same mystical
series of the Institution of the Eucharist which
we have already seen in the Pourbus of the
Cathedral at Bruges. The central panel rep-
resented the Institution of the Eucharist; the
left (Munich) has Melchizedeck offering bread
and wine to Abraham; the right (Berlin),
Elijah fed by ravens in the wilderness. On
the outer sides of the panels are two similar
typical subjects: left (Munich), the Gather-
314 Belgium : Its Cities
ing of the Manna or food from Heaven ; and
right (Berlin), the Feast of the Passover, the
Paschal Lamb being regarded as a type of
the Christian sacrifice. The picture as it stands
in this chapel has of course lost its mystical
significance. It closely resembles the smaller
Last Supper in the Brussels Gallery; but the
architecture here is Gothic, not Renaissance.
Study well, especially the figures of the donor
(by the door) and the servant. The floor is
characteristic.
The next chapel has a ** triptych, by Die-
rick Bouts, the Martyrdom of St. Erasmus,
patron against intestinal diseases : a bishop,
martyred at Formia in the persecution of
Diocletian. It represents the hideous episode
of the unwinding of the saint's bowels. The
executioner on the left is a good specimen of
Dierick Bouts's rude artisan figures; he looks
like a cobbler. In the background is the Em-
peror Diocletian, richly attired, with a court-
ier, whose attitude recalls more than one of
those in the Justice of Otho. The landscape
is characteristic of Bouts's manner. This is
a good, hard, dry picture. The left panel
has St. Jerome, robed as cardinal, with his
The Surroundings of Brussels 315
lion; the right has St. Anthony, accompanied
by a vanquished demon. This, however, is
a St. Anthony as the abbot, not as the hermit
in the desert.
In the same chapel is a fine Renaissance
tomb, representing Adolf van Baussede in
adoration before the Trinity, introduced by
his patron, St. Adolphus, with allegorical fig-
ures of Faith, Hope, and Charity. The work
is almost Italian in character.
Over the High Altar is a modern figure
of the patron, St. Peter, enthroned as pope,
and with papal symbols behind him. Left
of it is the fine canopy we have already ob-
served from the outside, with scenes from the
Passion. The architecture here is striking.
The great Quentin Matsys of the Family
of St. Anne in the Brussels Picture Gallery
was formerly an altar-piece in this church.
There is nothing else at Louvain that need
detain you. If you like, you can stroll a little
way down the Rue de Namur, just to the right
of the H6tel-de-Ville. It contains some good
old houses. The desolate building on your
right was originally the Halles, but is now
the University. It was built for the Guild of
3i6 Belgium : Its Cities
Clothmakers in 13 17, and has been wholly
modernized; but there are some good Gothic
arches on the basement floor within (approach
down the side street to the right). Further
on is the College du St. Esprit on the right,
and the Church of St. Michel (uninteresting)
on the left. The street which here runs off
obliquely conducts to the College Marie The-
rese, and the College Adrien VI., uninterest-
ing, and all used as hostelries for the students.
The only other objects to look at in Lou vain
are the choir-stalls in carved wood, early ■
Renaissance, at the Church of St. Gertrude,
dedicated to the Abbess of Nivelles and aunt
of St. Gudula. It lies down the Rue de
Malines, in the opposite direction from the
Rue de Namur. You have then seen Louvain.
On your way from Brussels to Antwerp,
you ought to visit Malines Cathedral. The
easiest way is to book your luggage through,
and then stop for an hour or two at Malines,
going on by a later train.
CHAPTER XXI.
ORIGINS OF ANTWERP
ANTWERP, the seaport of the Schelde
estuary, is practically the youngest and
the least interesting of the great Belgian
towns. It should therefore be visited last by
the historically-minded tourist. A small town,
known in Flemish as Antwerpen ("at the
Wharf"), — a name altered in French and
English into An vers and Antwerp, — existed
here, it is true, as early as the seventh
century, and suffered heavily in the ninth
from the ubiquitous Northmen. But its situ-
ation at the open mouth of the great estuary
of the Schelde, exposed to every passing
piratical invader, rendered it unfit for the
purposes of early commerce. The trade of
Flanders, in its first beginnings, accordingly
concentrated itself in the more protected in-
land ports like Bruges and Ghent; while that
317
3i8 Belgium : Its Cities
of Brabant^ of which province Antwerp itself
formed a part, found a safer home in Brussels
or Louvain, far up some minor internal river.
Hence the rise of Antwerp dates no further
back than the end of the fifteenth and begin-
ning of the sixteenth century.
Its rise, that is to say, as a grezt commercial
port, for from an early period it was the cap-
ital of a petty margrave, under the Duke of
Brabant. As northern Europe grew gradually
quieter during the eleventh and twelfth cen-
turies, Antwerp rose somewhat in importance;
and the magnificence of its cathedral, the
earliest part of which dates from 1352, suffi-
ciently shows that the town was increasing in
wealth and population during the palmy period
when Bruges and Ghent governed the trade
of the Continent. But when, in the fifteenth
century and the beginning of the sixteenth,
Bruges began to decline (partly from political
causes, but more still from changes in navi-
gation and trade routes), Antwerp rose sud-
denly to the first position in the Low Coun-
tries and perhaps in Europe. Its large, deep,
and open port was better adapted to the in-
creasing shipping of the new epoch than were
Origins of Antwerp 319
the shallow and narrow canals or rivers of
Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels. The discovery
of America, and of the route to India by the
Cape of Good Hope, had revolutionized both
commerce and navigation ; vessels were built
larger and of deeper draught ; and the Schelde
became for a time what the Thames, the Clyde,
and the Mersey have become in our own
period. Antwerp under Charles V. was prob-
ably even more prosperous and wealthier than
Venice. The centre of traffic was shifting
from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic sea-
board. The city reached its highest point of
prosperity about 1568, when it is said that
thousands of vessels lay at anchor in the
Schelde, and that more than a hundred craft
sailed and arrived daily. Even allowing for
the smaller burden of those days, however, this
is probably an exaggeration. The great fairs
of Antwerp, of which those of Leipzig and
Nijni Novgorod are now the only modern rep-
resentatives, also drew thousands of merchants
from all parts of the world. The chief im-
ports were wool and other agricultural produce
from England, grain from the Baltic, wines
from France and Germany, spices and sugar
320 Belgium : Its Cities
from Portuguese territory, and silks and
Oriental luxuries from Venice and other parts
of Italy. The exports were the manufactured
goods of Flanders and Brabant, countries
which still took the lead in textile fabrics,
tapestries, carpets, and many other important
industries.
It is to this late period of wealth and pros-
perity that Antwerp owes most of the great
buildings and works of art which still adorn
it. Its Cathedral, indeed, varies in date in
different parts from the middle of the four-
teenth to the beginning of the sixteenth cen-
tury, and some portions were not quite com-
pleted till the seventeenth : but the general
aspect of the core of the town is of the
Renaissance epoch. It contains in its modem
gallery not a few Flemish paintings of the
earlier period, produced by the artists of
Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels ; but its own
native art dates no further back than Quen-
tin Matsys (1466 — 1531), the last of the
painters of the Netherlands who adhered to
the national type of art; while it reached its
highest point in Rubens (1577 — 1640), who
introduced into the Low Countries the devel-
Origins of Antwerp 321
oped style of the Italian Renaissance, adapted
and strained throiigh an essentially robust
Flemish nature. It is only at Antwerp that
these two great masters can be studied to the
highest advantage ; they illustrate, one the rise,
the other the culmination and afterglow, of
the greatness of their native city. I say
native advisedly, for though Rubens most
probably was born at Siegen (in Nassau),
he was an Antwerper by descent, by blood,
by nature, and by residence.
The decline of the city in later times was
due to a variety of concurrent causes, some
of them strangely artificial, which long dis-
tracted trade from one of its most natural
outlets in Europe. The Spanish troops began
the devastation, during the abortive attempt
of the southern provinces to shake off the
yoke of Spain; in 1576, the Town Hall and
nearly a thousand noble buildings were burnt,
while eight thousand people were ruthlessly
massacred. In 1585, the Duke of Parma com-
pleted the destruction of the local prosperity :
the population was largely scattered, and the
trade of Antwerp completely ruined. The
long and unsuccessful rebellion, the division
322 Belgium : Its Cities
which it unhappily caused between Holland
and Belgium, and the rapid commercial rise,
first of Amsterdam and then of England, all
contributed to annihilate the mercantile impor-
tance of Antwerp. The Dutch erected forts
on their own territory at the mouth of the
Schelde, and refused to allow shipping to
proceed up the river. Finally by the Treaty
of Miinster in 1648 it was agreed that no
seagoing vessel should be allowed to ascend
the estuary to Antwerp, but that all ships
should unload at a Dutch port, goods being
forwarded by river craft to the former cap-
ital of European commerce. From that date
forward to the French occupation in 1794,
Antwerp sank to the position of a mere local
centre, while Rotterdam and Amsterdam took
its place as commercial cities. In the latter
year, however, the French reopened the navi-
gation of the Schelde, and destroyed the in-
iquitous Dutch forts at the entrance to the
river. Napoleon, in whose empire the town
was included, constructed a harbour and built
new quays; but after his fall, Antwerp was
made over to Holland, and began to trade
as a Dutch seaport. The erection of Belgium
Origins of Antwerp 323
into a separate kingdom in 1830 again told
against it, as the Dutch maintained their un-
just power of levying tolls on the shipping;
in addition to which drawback, Antwerp had
suffered heavily from siege during the War
of Independence. In 1863, however, the
Dutch extortioners were bought off by a heavy
money payment, and Antwerp, the natural out-
let of the Schelde, and to a great extent of the
German empire, once more regained its natural
place as a main commercial port of Europe.
Since that date, its rise has been extraordi-
narily rapid, in correspondence with the large
development of Belgian manufactures and still
more with the new position of Germany as a
world-trading power. Indeed, nothing but
the artificial restrictions placed upon its com-
merce by the selfishness and injustice of the
Dutch could ever have prevented the seaport
of the Schelde from ranking as one of the
chief harbours of the world, as soon as ocean-
going ships demanded ports of that size, and
as commerce had no longer anything to fear
from marauding pirates.
As a consequence of these conditions, we
324 Belgium : Its Cities
have to expect in Antwerp mainly a central
town of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
with an immense modern outgrowth of very
recent origin. Save its fine Cathedral, and
its imported pictures, it has little or nothing
of mediaeval interest.
Tlie population of Antwerp is almost en-
tirely Flemish, though French is the language
of the higher commerce; and the town is
the stronghold of the old Flemish feeling in
Belgium, as opposed to the Parisian tone of
Brussels.
Concurrently with the rise of its renewed
commercial importance, Antwerp has become
once more a centre of Belgian art, and espe-
cially of the pure Flemish school of archaists,
who have chosen their subjects from Flemish
history, and followed to some extent the prec-
edents of the early Flemish painters. Ex-
amples of these will meet us later.
Choose an hotel on the Place Verte, if
possible, or at least very near it. You can-
not gain a first impression of Antwerp in less
than four or five days.
Antwerp is a confused town, a maze with-
Origins of Antwerp 325
out a plan: till you have learnt your way
about, I advise you to follow the tram-lines:
you will thus avoid the slummy streets which
abound even in the best quarter.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CATHEDRAL OF ANTWERP
THE first thing to see at Antwerp is the
High Church of Our Lady, once the
Cathedral, and still commonly so called,
though it is not now a bishop's see, but part
of the diocese of Malines. It is a fine early
and middle Gothic church, with a late Gothic
or flamboyant tower; but, relatively to its
fame, it is externally disappointing. This is
partly because mean houses have been allowed
to gather round it, but partly also because its
somewhat meretricious spire has been unduly
praised by earlier generations. Modern taste,
which admires the simpler and severer early
forms of Gothic, finds it fantastic and over-
elaborate.
The Place Verte opposite the Cathedral
(once the churchyard), is planted with trees,
and has its centre occupied by a modern statue
326
The Cathedral of Antwerp 7^2j
of Rubens. This is one of the few points
from which you can view (more or less) the
exterior of the Cathedral, the greater part of
which is obstructed by shabby shops clustered
round its base. The only really good views,
however, are obtained from the second-floor
windows of the houses on the east side of
the Square, such as the Hotel de 1' Europe.
Nevertheless, it will be well to walk round
the building outside, in order to inspect as
much of it as is visible.
The chief portal and the south transept are
seen from the Place Verte. There is little
sculpture on them, save a small late figure
of the patroness, Our Lady, with the Child,
on the centre pillar of the portal, and another
high up between the angels of the gable-end.
Now, go round to the left, into the little
triangular Place known as the Marche aux
Gants, to view the main west front, best
seen from the apex of the triangle opposite.
It has a fine central portal and west window,
flanked by two great towers, the southern
incomplete. Its niches have statues of five
only out of the Twelve Apostles. The north-
ern tower, up to the first gallery, is middle
328 Belgium : Its Cities
Gothic of 1352 — 1449. The upper portion,
with the octagonal lantern of very open work,
flanked by projecting pinnacles, tied by smal)
buttresses, is in later flamboyant Gothic, and
was erected in 1502 — 15 18, by Dominic de
Waghamakere, the architect of the Gothic por-
tion of the Town Hall at Ghent. This florid
spire has been excessively praised above its
merits, but will hardly satisfy a modern taste.
It can be ascended for a fee of seventy-five
centimes, but is dark and steep : the view,
though fine, hardly repays the trouble.
The well in the Marche aux Gants, near
the front of the Cathedral, has a beautiful
wrought-iron canopy, to support its lid, said
to have been made by Quentin Matsys when
he was a blacksmith, or rather a metal-worker,
before he took to painting. (But the legend
is doubtful.) It consists of a trellis of vine,
supporting wild men and women with clubs,
and capped by a figure of Brabo, the epony-
mous hero of Brabant, flinging the hand of
the giant Antigonus (see later, under the
H6tel-de-Ville).
Now, continue on round the north side of
the Cathedral. A few glimpses of the north
The Cathedral of Antwerp 329
transq)t and aisles, as well as of the nave
and choir, may be obtained as we proceed,
much of it, unfortunately, now being marred
by excessive restoration. The beautiful choir
and apse, with their flying buttresses, are
almost entirely concealed by neighbouring
houses. If these were cleared away, a fine
view would be obtained of a noble piece of
architecture, now only visible by occasional
glimpses from the upper floors of surround-
ing houses. This portion of the church is
furthei* disfigured by the abrupt terminations
to the roofs of the transepts, and by the ri-
diculous pepper-caster top which replaces the
central spire or Heche of the original concep-
tion. Continue on through the narrow streets
till you have made a complete tour of the
Cathedral and returned to the Place Verte
and the door of the south transept. The best
general view, however, is not obtainable from
any of these points, but from the Grand' Place,
and especially the upper windows of the Hotel-
de-Ville, to be visited later.
Now, enter the Cathedral, by the door in
the south transept. (Open, free, from eight
to twelve on Sundays and Thursdays : or,
330 Belgium : Its Cities
every day, twelve to four, on payment of a
franc per person. But if you wish really to
inspect the works of art it contains, pay your
franc like a man, and see them at your leisure
when there are no services in progress. Fine
music at High Mass at ten on Sundays.)
The interior is impressive and solemn, with
its high nave^ transepts, and choir, of good
simple Gothic, and its three rows of aisles, the
perspective of which, with their many pillars,
is extremely striking. The aisles, however,
are unusually low in proportion to the height
of the central cruciform building. First walk
down the nave to the west end, to form a
general conception of the fine and impressive
interior, grand in its colossal simplicity, and
commendably free from eighteenth century
disfigurements.
Now, begin at the right or south aisle, which
contains admirable modern Stations of the
Cross by Vinck and Hendrickx, excellently
painted in the archaic spirit. I do not describe
these, as they need no explanation, but each is
worthy of individual attention. Do not hurry.
The Chapel of the Sacrament, at the end
of this aisle, has good polychrome decoration.
NAVE IN THE CATHEDRAL, ANTWERP.
The Cathedral of Antwerp 331
and line stained-glass windows (Last Supper,
1503: St. Amand converting Antwerp; St.
Norbert preaching against the heresy of Tan-
quelin at Antwerp, etc.) : also, a reliquary of
St. Roch, and an interesting modern statue of
that great plague-saint.
The south transept has a good modern
stained-glass window, and affords fine views
of the central Dome and Aisles.
On the right wall are the Marriage at Cana
in Galilee, appropriately painted for the Altar
of the Wine-merchants, by M. de Vos (excel-
lent for comparison with others of the same
subject), and a Last Supper by Otto van Veen,
the master of Rubens, formerly the Altar-piece
of the Chapel of the Sacrament.
The left wall of the south transept is occupied
by Rubens's great triptych of St. Christopher,
commonly called (from its central portion)
** The Descent from the Cross. This is a
splendid work, conceived (as to idea) in the
mystical spirit of old Flemish art, though, car-
ried out, of course, in the utterly different and
incongruous style of Rubens. In order to un-
derstand it we must remember that triptychs
were usually kept closed on the altar, and that
332 Belgium : Its Cities
the picture which first met the eye was that
which occupies the outer shutters. It struck
the key-note. Now, the outer shutters of this
work (seldom seen, unless you ask the Sacris-
tan to close it) are occupied by a figure of St.
Christopher, with the hermit who directed him
to Christ, accompanied by his lantern and owl,
as in the earlier St. Christopher triptych by
Memling in the Academy at Bruges. This
painting was ordered from Rubens by the
Guild of Arquebusiers, whose patron is St.
Christopher. On the outside, therefore, Ru-
bens painted the saint himself, whose name (of
course) means the Christ-Bearer. But on the
inner portion he painted three other symtelical
or allusive scenes of the Bearing of Christ :
on the left. The Visitation ; the unborn Christ
borne by His mother : on the right, The
Presentation in the Temple; the living Christ
borne by Simeon: in the centre, The Descent
from the Cross; the dead Christ borne by
Joseph of Arimathea and the Disciples.
The left wing shows us Our Lady, in a
big Flemish hat, approaching St. Elizabeth.
Behind, Joseph and Zacharias, the two hus-
bands, shake hands. (This composition has
RUBENS. — DESCENT FROM THE CROSS.
The Cathedral of Antwerp ^^^
been copied in the stained-glass window of
the Cathedral at Antwerp.) In order to im-
press the mystical meaning of the picture,
the fact of Our Lady's pregnancy has been
strongly insisted upon.
The central panel shows us the Descent
from the Cross. Nicodemus holds the body
by one shoulder, while St. John, below, re-
ceives it in his arms, and the Magdalen at the
feet expresses her tenderness. Joseph of
Arimathea descends the ladder. The actual
corpse forms the salient point in the picture.
It is usual to say that the contrast of the dead
body and white sheet is borrowed from the
famous treatment of the same subject by
Daniele da Volterra in Santa Trinita de'
Monti at Rome; and indeed, the composition
in this work has probably been suggested by
the Italian example; but a similar white sheet,
with the dead body seen against it, is found
in all early Flemish art, and especially in
works of the School of Roger van der Wey-
den. (It is known as the Holy Sudarium.)
In this splendid and gorgeous conception,
Rubens has given the greatest importance to
the body of the Saviour; but he is so in-
334 Belgium : Its Cities
tensely occupied with the mechanical diffi-
culties of its support, the strain and stress
of the dead weight, that he forgets feeling;
in spite of the agonized attitude of the Mater
Dolorosa, the picture is sadly lacking in pathos.
He realizes the scene as to its material facts;
he fails to realize its spiritual significance.
(For an opposite opinion, see M. Max Rooses,
who speaks of " the profound expression of
a tender and respectful love.") To my mind,
the man who holds the Sudarium in his teeth
is a fault of taste of the most flagrant char-
acter. We think of the whole work rather
as a wonderful piece of art than as the fitting
delineation of a sacred subject. But as art
it is triumphant. The faces of the St. John
and the Magdalen are also charming.
The right wing, with the Presentation, and
the aged Simeon receiving Christ in his arms,
is of less interest.
Next, enter the ambulatory, behind the
Choir.
First chapel. Good modern stained-glass
window of the Pieta.
Second chapel. Tomb of John Moretus, the
son-in-law of Plantin, the famous printer (see
RUBENS. — ASSUMPTION (AND THE HIGH ALTAR).
The Cathedral of Antwerp 335
after, under Musee Plantin-Moretus) erected
by Martina Plantin, his widow, and with
pictures by Rubens. Above, in an oval, por-
trait of John Moretus (by a pupil, retouched
by Rubens). Below, triptych; centre, * The
Resurrection, emblematic of hope for his glo-
rious future. Left wing, his patron, St. John
the Baptist; right wing, his widow's patron-
ess, St. Martina. This triptych, too, loses by
not being first seen closed : on the outside are
two angels, about to open a door ; as the wings
unfold, you behold the luminous figure of
the risen Christ, grasping the red Resurrec-
tion banner. This figure is celebrated. The
dismay of the Roman soldiers is conceived in
the thorough Rubens spirit. Observe the ar-
rangement of this triptych on the tomb: it
will help you to understand others in the
Museum.
Opposite this, Tomb of a Premonstratenslan
Friar, with St. Norbert, founder of the Order,
in adoration, by Pepyn.
This chapel is also one of the best points
of view for Rubens's famous ** Assumption,
above the High Altar. We here see one of
these great altar-pieces (of which we shall
336 Belgium : Its Cities
meet many examples in the Museum) placed
in the situation for which it was originally
designed. This Assumption ranks as one of
Rubens's masterpieces. Above, Our Lady is
caught up into the air by a circle of little
cherubs, dimly recalling the earlier Italian
mandorla. Below, stand the Apostles, look-
ing into the empty tomb, with the youthful
figure of St. Thomas stretching out his hands
in an attitude derived from the Italian sub-
ject of the Sacra Cintola. In the centre of
the foreground, the Holy Women, about to
pick roses from the empty tomb. (See a sim-
ilar work in the Brussels Museum. This com-
position can only be understood by the light
of earlier Italian examples.)
On the pier between this and the next chapel.
Crucifixion, with Scenes from the Passion.
Third chapel : Master of the School of
Cologne, fourteenth century. A Glory of
the Angels. In the centre, St. Michael the
Archangel slaying a dragon, whose double
tongue divides into many heads of kings.
Right and left, the insignificant donor and
donatrix. On either side, choirs of angels
in hierarchies. Above, Christ enthroned in
The Cathedral of Antwerp ^^y
a mandoria (almond-shaped halo) worshipped
by angels. Beneath, in the predella, St.
Stephen with his stone; St. Ursula with bow
and arrow ; St. Peter with his keys ; a Pieta ;
St. John the Evangelist; St. Agnes with her
ruby ring; and St. Anthony the Abbot with
his staff and bell. A good picture of the
school from which Van Eyck was a reaction.
Opposite it, Tomb of Bishop Ambrosio Ca-
pello, by Arthus Quellin, the only one remain-
ing tomb of a bishop in the Cathedral.
Fourth chapel. Good sixteenth century
figure of Our Lady and Qiild. Tomb of
Plantin, with Last Judgment, by De Backer.
Fifth chapel. Beautiful modern archaic
altar-piece of St. Barbara.
Sixth chapel. Nothing of special interest,
though in all these chapels the stained-glass
windows and polychromatic decorations are
worthy of notice.
Opposite it, on the back of the High Altar,
painted imitations of reliefs, by Van Bree :
an extraordinary illusion ; Annunciation, Mar-
riage of the Virgin, Visitation. In front of
these, Tomb of Isabella of Bourbon, wife of
Charles the Bold, and mother of Mary of
;^^S Belgium : Its Cities
Burgundy. Altar-back, Death of the Virgin,
seventeenth century.
Seventh chapel. Good modern archaic altar-
piece, with a miracle of St. John Berchman.
The saints are named on it.
Eighth chapel. Tolerable modem archaic
altar-piece of Our Lady and Child, with
donors and saints.
On the pier, between this and the next
chapel, School of Roger van der Weyden,
Selection of Joseph as the husband of the
Virgin, and Marriage of the Virgin; a good
picture.
Ninth chapel, of St. Joseph, patron saint
of Belgium, and therefore honoured with this
larger shrine. On the Altar, modem carved
and gilt altar-piece, St. Joseph bearing the
Infant Christ. Around it, Scenes from his
Life. On the left (beginning below), Mar-
riage of the Virgin and Joseph, Nativity,
Presentation in the Temple; on the right (be-
ginning above), Flight into Egypt, Finding
of Christ in the Temple, the Holy Carpenter's
Shop, Centre, Death of St. Joseph. On the
wings, right, Philip IV. dedicating Belgium
to St. Joseph; left, Pius IX., accompanied
The Cathedral of Antwerp 339
by St. Peter, appointing Joseph patron saint of
Belgium.
Now enter the north transept.
On the right wall. Rubens's famous * Ele-
vation of the Cross. In form a triptych, but
with the same subject continued through its
three members. Centre, The Elevation : left,
St. John, the Mater Dolorosa, and the Holy
Women : right, Longinus and the soldiers, with
the two thieves. This is one of Rubens's most
bustling pictures, where the mere muscular ef-
fort almost wholly chokes the sense of pathos.
The dog in the foreground is an exceptionally
unhappy later addition by the master. The tone
of colour is brown and cold; the work is
mainly painted for light and shade. It was
formerly the altar-piece in the Church of St.
Walburga, who appears with other saints on
the outer shutters.
This Transept also contains stained glass of
the seventeenth century.
On the left wall is a triptych by Francken:
Centre, Christ among the Doctors, said to be
portraits of the Reformers. Left wing, St.
Ambrose baptizing Augustine, with the donor,
340 Belgium : Its Cities
kneeling. Right wing, Elijah causing the
widow's cruse of oil to be replenished.
The chapel in the north transept has noth-
ing of interest.
Now, enter the Choir^ with good modern
carved stalls, and a different but less impres-
sive view of Rubens's Assumption.
The north aisle has little of interest, save
its stained-glass windows, and a Head of
Christ, painted on marble, ascribed to Leo-
nardo, but really of Flemish origin. This is
affixed to the first pillar of the Lady Chapel.
Further on in the aisle, confessionals with
tolerable wood-carvings.
The nave has the usual overloaded seven-
teenth century pulpit, with Europe, Asia, Af-
rica, and America.
I have only briefly enumerated the principal
contents; but you will find much more that is
interesting for yourself if you spend an hour
or two longer in examining the Cathedral.
PULPIT IN THE CATHEDRAL, ANTWERP.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE ANTWERP PICTURE GALLERY! HALL OF
THE ANCIENT MASTERS
" I ^HE chief object of interest at Antwerp,
^ even more important than the Cathedral
itself, is the Picture Gallery, regally housed
in a magnificent Museum at the south end of
the town. The building alone might make
Trafalgar Square blush, if Trafalgar Square
had a blush left in it. To this collection you
should devote at least two or three mornings.
The Antwerp Gallery contains in its pala-
tial rooms a large number of Flemish pictures,
many of them collected from the suppressed
Churches and Monasteries of the city. (Re-
member that they were painted for such
situations, not to be seen in Museums.) You
will here have an opportunity of observing a
few good pictures of the early Flemish School,
and especially of improving your slight ac-
341
342 Belgium ; Its Cities
quaintance with Roger van der Weyden, one
of whose loveliest works is preserved in the
gallery. You will also see at least one ad-
mirable example of Quentin Matsys, as well
as several fine works of the Transitional School
between the early and the later Flemish
periods.
But the special glory of the Antwerp
Museum is its great collection of Rubenses.
It is at Antwerp alone, indeed, that you can
begin to grasp the greatness of Rubens, as
you may grasp it afterward at Munich and
Vienna. I do not say you will love him : I
will not pretend to love him myself: but you
may at least understand him. This, then, is
the proper place in which to consider briefly
the position of Rubens in Flemish Art.
From the days of the Van Eycks to those
of Gerard David, painting in the Low Coun-
tries had followed a strictly national line of
development. Its growth was organic and
internal. With Quentin Matsys, and still
more with Bernard van Orley, Pourbus, and
the rest, the influence of the Italian Renais-
sance had begim to interfere with the native
current of art in the Low Countries. It was
i h:
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 343
Rubens who finally transformed Flemish paint-
ing by adopting to a certain extent the gran-
diose style of the later Italian and especially
the Venetian Masters, at the same time that
he transfused it with local feeling and with
the private mark of his own superabundant and
vigorous individuality.
Rubens was an Antwerp man, by descent
and education, though accidentally born at
Siegen in Nassau. His father was an Antwerp
justice of an important family, exiled for sup-
posed Calvinistic leanings, and disgraced for
an intrigue with a royal lady, Anna of Saxony,
the eccentric wife of William of Orange. A
gentleman by birth and breeding, Peter Paul
Rubens painted throughout life in the spirit
of a generous, luxurious aristocrat. His
master was Otto van Veen, Court Painter to
the Dukes of Parma, and himself an Italian-
ized Flemish artist, whose work is amply
represented in the Museum. Early in life,
Rubens travelled in Italy, where he imbibed
to a great extent the prevailing tone of Italian
art, as represented by Titian, Veronese, and
to a less extent, Tintoretto, as well as by
Domenichino and the later Roman School of
344 Belgium : Its Cities
painters. To these influences we must add the
subtler efifect of the general spirit of the late
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the
age when voyages to America and to India,
and the sudden opening of the Atlantic sea-
board, had caused in men's minds a great fer-
ment of opinion and given rise to a new out-
burst of activity and struggle. Romance was
rife. The world was turned upside down. It
was the day of Spanish supremacy, the day
when the gold and silver of the Indies poured
in vast sums into Madrid and the Low Coun-
tries. The Mediterranean had given way to
the Atlantic, Venice to Antwerp. In England,
this age gave us the rich and varied Eliza-
bethan literature; in the Low Countries, it
gave us the highly analogous and profusely
lavish art of the School of Rubens.
Rubens lived his life throughout on a big
scale. He travelled much. He was statesman
and diplomatist as well as painter. He moved
from Paris to London^ from Madrid to
Mantua. All these things give a tone to his
art. He is large, spacious, airy, voluptuous.
He has a bold self-confidence, a prodigal free-
dom, an easy opulence. He delights in colossal
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 345
figures, in regal costume, in court dresses and
feathers, — the romance and pageantry of the
royal world he lived in. Space seems to swell
and soar on his canvas. Vast marble halls
with huge pillars and lofty steps are the archi-
tectural background in which his soul delights.
His outlines are too flowing to be curbed into
stifif correctness. His sturdy Flemish nature,
again, comes out in the full and fleshy figures,
the florid cheeks, and the abundant fair hair
of his female characters. All scenes alike,
however sacred, are for him just opportunities
for the display of sensuous personal charm,
enlivened by rich costume or wealthy acces-
sories. Yet in his large romantic way he is
doing for cosmopolitan mercantile Antwerp
in the seventeenth century what Van Eyck
and Memling did for cosmopolitan Ghent and
Bruges in the fifteenth.
One more peculiarity of his art must be
mentioned. The early painters, as we saw
in the St. Ursula casket, had little sense of
real dramatic life and movement. Rubens had
learned to admire this quality in his Venetian
masters, and he bettered their instruction with
Flemish force and with the stir and bustle of
346 Belgium : Its Cities
a big seaport town in an epoch of development.
His pictures are full, not merely of life, but
of strain, stress, turmoil. It is more than
animation — it is noise, it is tumult. He often
forgets the sacredness of a scene by emphasiz-
ing too much the muscular action and the
violent movement of those who participate
in it. This is particularly noticeable in the
Descent from the Cross in the Cathedral, and
still more in the famous Coup de Lance at
the Museum.
The astonishing number of pictures which
Rubens has left may be accounted for in part
by his incredible rapidity of execution — he
dashed off a huge picture in a fortnight, —
but in part also by the fact that he was largely
assisted by a numerous body of pupils. Of
these, Van Dyck was by far the most indi-
vidual, the tenderest, the most refined : and
not a few of his stately and touching master-
pieces may here be studied.
The Dutch School is also represented by
several excellent small pictures.
Of alien art, there are a few fine pieces by
Early Italian artists.
The entrance door Is under the great por-
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 347
THE PICTURE GALLERY, ANTWERP.
Uodcrn Pictures in the Rooms marked with an Italic capital.
348 Belgium : Its Cities
tico on the west front, facing the river. Open
daily, nine or ten to four or five, one franc per
person: free on Sundays. (Inquire hours of
hotel porter.)
You pass from the vestibule, v^here sticks
and umbrellas are left, into a hall and stair-
case of palatial dimensions, admirably deco-
rated with fine modern paintings by N. De
Keyser, of Antwerp, representing the Arts
and Artists of the city, the influence upon
them of Italian masters, and the recognition
extended to their work in London, Paris,
Rome, Bologna, Amsterdam, and Vienna. I
do not describe these excellent pictures, as the
inscriptions upon them sufficiently indicate
their meaning, but they are well worth your
careful attention.
The rooms are lettered (A, B, C, etc.) over
the doorways. On reaching the top of the
staircase, pass at once through Rooms J and
I, and go straight into Room C, the Hall of
the Ancient Masters, Flemish or foreign.
Right of the door,
224. Justus of Ghent : a bland old pope,
probably St. Gregory, holding a monstrance,
between two angels. In the background, a
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 340
curious altar-piece, with the Annunciation, Na-
tivity, Adoration of the Magi, Flight into
Egypt, Presentation in the Temple, and Find-
ing of Christ in the Temple. Above it, two
female saints (or figures of Our Lady?). A
good work, in an early dry manner.
463. Madonna and Child, by Van Orley;
the landscape by Patinier. From a tomb in
the Cathedral.
383. Van der Meire. Triptych from an
altar; Centre, Way to Calvary, with St. Ve-
ronica offering her napkin, and brutal, stolid
Flemish soldiers bearing the hammer, etc. In
the background, the Flight into Egypt. The
wings have been transposed. Left (should be
right), the Finding of Christ in the Temple.
Right (should be left), the Presentation in the
Temple.
Above it, 380. Van den Broeck (1530 —
1601): a Last Judgment. Interesting for
comparison with previous examples. Renais-
sance nude.
557. Unknown. Dutch School of the early
sixteenth century. The Tiburtine Sibyl show-
ing the Emperor Augustus the apparition of
the Virgin and Child on the Aventine. A
350 Belgium : Its Cities
page, his robe embroidered with his master's
initial A., holds the Emperor's crown. Very
Dutch architecture. (The Catalogue, I think
erroneously, makes it the Madonna appearing
to Constantine.)
560. Good hard early Dutch portrait.
42. An Adam and Eve, attributed to Cra-
nach the Elder. Harsh northern nude.
527. Unknown. Resurrection, the Sa-
viour, bearing the white pennant, with red
cross, and sleeping Roman soldiers.
341. Good portrait by Susterman, alias
Lambert Lombard.
Above these, Madonna, in the Byzantine
style, with the usual Greek inscriptions.
521. School of Albert Diirer: Mater Dol-
orosa, with the Seven Sorrows around her.
549. Good Flemish portrait of William L,
Prince of Orange.
Above, 387, Van der Meire: an Entomb-
ment, with the usual figures, Nicodemus and
Joseph of Arimathea; the Magdalen in the
foreground with the box of ointment; the
Mater Dolorosa supported by St. John (in
red) ; and, behind, the two Maries. In the
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 351
background, a Pieta — that is to say, the same
group mourning over the Dead Saviour.
425. Van Hemessen : The CalHng of Mat-
thew from the receipt of custom. Harsh and
uninteresting.
568. School of Quentin Matsys: Christ
and St. Veronica. Probably part only of a
Way to Calvary. The spiked club is frequent.
241. Quentin Matsys: a fine and cele-
brated * Head of the Saviour Blessing, with
more expression than is usual in the Flemish
type of this subject. Notice even here, how-
ever, close adhesion to the original typical fea-
tures.
242. Quentin Matsys : Companion * Head
of Our Lady, as Queen of Heaven. Full of
charm and simplicity.
Between these, 4, * Antonello da Messina
(an Italian profoundly influenced by the
School of Van Eyck, and the first to introduce
the Flemish improvements in oil painting into
Italy). Crucifixion, with St. John and Our
Lady. This work should be carefully studied,
as a connecting link between the art of
Flanders and Italy. It is painted with the
352 Belgium : Its Cities
greatest precision and care, and bears marks
everywhere of its double origin — Flemish
minuteness, Italian nobility.
254. Memling : ** admirable cold-toned
portrait of a member of the De Croy family.
The hands, face, and robe, are all exquisitely
painted.
Centre of the wall, 412, good early copy of
Jan van Eyck's altar-piece for Canon George
van der Paelen, in the Academy at Bruges, If
you have not been there, see page 121, Vol. I.,
for particulars. Better preserved than the orig-
inal : perhaps a replica by the master himself.
519. Crucifixion, with Our Lady and St.
John, on a gold background. Interesting only
as a specimen of the very wooden Dutch paint-
ing of the fourteenth century. Contrast it with
the Van Eyck beneath it, if you wish to see the
strides which that great painter took in his art.
397. Good hard * portrait of Philippe le
Bon of Burgundy, an uninteresting, narrow-
souled personage, wearing the collar of the
Golden Fleece, by Roger van der Weyden.
43. Cranach the Elder : Charity. A study
of the nude, somewhat more graceful than is
the wont of this painter.
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 353
264. Mostaert (Jan, the Dutchman), tol-
erable hard portrait : same person reappears in
262.
179. Gossaert: *a beautiful panel repre-
senting the Return from Calvary. The Mater
Dolorosa is supported by St. John. On the
left, the Magdalen with her pot of ointment;
right, the other Maries. Very touching. No-
tice the Flemish love for these scenes of the
Passion and Entombment.
198. Hans Holbein the Younger : ** ad-
mirable portrait of Erasmus. It lives. Full of
vivacity and scholarly keenness, with the quick
face of a bright intelligence, and the expressive
hands of a thinker. The fur is masterly.
180. Gossaert : group of figures some-
what strangely known as " The Just Judges."
Probably a single surviving panel from an ex-
tensive work of the same character as the
Adoration of the Lamb at Ghent.
263. Jan Mostaert : * very fine portrait of
a man in a large black hat and yellow doublet.
Pendant to 264.
558. Holy Family. Dutch School. Early
sixteenth century.
202. Lucas van Leyden : * portraits. Char-
354 Belgium : Its Cities
acteristic, and well thrown out against the back-
ground.
566. School of Quentin Matsys : a genre
piece, representing a gallant episode between
a girl and an old man. Not readily compre-
hensible.
168. Triptych by Fyol, German School.
Centre, the Adoration of the Magi. The Old
King has removed his crown, as usual, and
presented his gift. He is evidently a portrait :
he wears a collar of the Golden Fleece, and is
probably Philippe le Bon. Behind him, the
Middle-aged King, kneeling; then the Young
King, a Moor, with his offering. (The story
of the Three Kings — Gaspar, Melchior, Bal-
thasar — was largely evolved in the Cologne
district, where their relics formed the main
object of pious pilgrimage.) To the right,
an undignified Joseph, with his staff, and the
peculiar robe with which you are now, I hope,
familiar. In the background, the family of
the donor, looking in through a window. The
wings have, I think, been misplaced. Left,
The Circumcision ; right, Nativity : notice the
ox and ass, and the costume of Joseph.
325. Schoreel: Crucifixion, with Our
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 355
Lady, St. John, the Magdalen, and angels
catching the Holy Blood. (A frequent epi-
sode. )
Above it, 570, School of Gossaert: Our
Lady.
262. Jan Mostaert : The Prophecies of Our
Lady. Above, she is represented as Queen of
Heaven, in an oval glory of angels, recalling
the Italian mandorla. Below, those who have
prophesied of her: in the centre, Isaiah, with
scroll, " Behold, a Virgin shall conceive," etc. :
right and left, Micah and Zechariah. Further
right and left, two Sibyls. The one to the
right is the same person as 264.
567. School of Quentin Matsys: Favour-
ite subject of the Miser.
25. More monstrosities by Bosch.
Beyond the door,
534. Unknown: Flemish School: Assump-
tion of Our Lady. Above, the Trinity waiting
to crown her.
123. Dunwege: German School. The
Family of St. Anne, resembling in subject the
Quentin Matsys at Brussels. Centre, St.
Anne enthroned. Below her. Our Lady and
the Divine Child. (Often Our Lady sits on
356 Belgium : Its Cities
St. Anne's lap.) To the left, Joachim offers
St. Anne and Our Lady cherries. (See " Leg-
ends of the Madonna.") To the right, St.
Joseph, with his staff and robe. On either
side, the Maries, with their children, here
legibly named, and their husbands. (From a
church at Calcar.)
Above this, 523. Triptych : Madonna and
Child, with donors and patron saints (Sebas-
tian and Mary Magdalen). Note their sym-
bols. On either side.
Van der Meire : 388 : Mater Dolorosa ; her
breast pierced with a sword : and 389 ( attri-
bution doubtful, according to Lafenestre), a
donatrix with St. Catherine, holding the sword
of her martyrdom.
569. School of Gossaert, Way to Calvary,
with the usual brutal soldiers.
47. Herri Met de Bles: Repose on the
Flight into Egypt. Notice the sleeping St.
Joseph, and the staff, basket, and gourd, which
mark this subject.
539. Good unknown Flemish portrait.
Beyond this, a frame containing five excel-
lent small pictures.
243. Quentin Matsys : * St. Mary Mag-
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 357
dalen with her alabaster box. Sweet and
simple. In reality, portrait of an amiable
round-faced Flemish young lady, in the char-
acter of her patron saint. Her home forms the
background.
526 and 538. Fine unknown portraits.
199. * Exquisite and delicate miniature by
Hans Holbein the Younger. (Lafenestre
doubts the attribution.)
132. Fouquet, the old French painter,
141 5 — 1485. Hard old French picture of a
Madonna and Child, of the regal French type,
with solid-looking red and blue cherubs. Said
to be a portrait of Agnes Sorel, mistress of
Charles VH. From the Cathedral of Melun.
Then, another case, containing six delicate
works of the first importance.
396. * Roger van der Weyden (more
probably. School of Van Eyck) : Annuncia-
tion. The angel Gabriel, in an exquisitely
painted bluish-white robe, has just entered.
Our Lady kneels at her prie-dieu with her book.
In the foreground, the Annunciation lily; be-
hind, the bedchamber. The Dove descends
upon her head. This is one of the loveliest
works in the collection.
358 Belgium : Its Cities
»
253. Memling : ** Exquisite portrait of a
Premonstratensian Canon.
28. Dierick Bouts: The Madonna and
Child. An excellent specimen of his hard,
careful manner.
203. Lucas of Leyden : David playing be-
fore Saul.
30. Bril, 1556 — 1626. Fine miniature
specimen of later Flemish landscape, with the
Prodigal Son in the foreground.
559. Unknown but admirable portrait of
a man.
223. Justus van Ghent: Nativity, with
Adoration of the Shepherds. A good picture,
full of interesting episodes.
Beyond these, another case, containing fine
small works. A beautiful little * Madonna
with the Fountain of Life (411) by Jan van
Eyck, closely resembling a large one by Meister
Wilhelm, in the Museum at Cologne. Two
good unknown portraits. A splendid ** por-
trait of a medallist (5) by Antonello da Mes-
sina (sometimes attributed to Memling). A
portrait (33) of Francis IL of France as a
child, by Clouet, of the old French School. A
characteristic * Albert Diirer (124), portrait
MEMLING. — PORTRAIT OF A PREMONSTRATENSIAN CANON.
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 359
of Frederick III. of Saxony : and a good Gos-
saert (182). These do not need description,
but should be closely studied.
The place of honour on this wall is occu-
pied by 393, a magnificent ** Seven Sacra-
ments, usually attributed to Roger van der
Weyden, though believed by some to be a
work of his. master, Robert Campin of Tour-
nay. At any rate, it is a work full of Roger's
mystic spirit. In form, it is a triptych, but
the main subjects are continued through on to
the wings. The central panel represents the
Sacrament of the Mass, typified in the fore-
ground by a Crucifixion, taking place in the
nave of an unknown Gothic church. At the
foot of the cross are the fainting Madonna,
supported by St. John (in red as usual) and
a touching group of the three Maries. The
robe of one to the left overflows into the next
panel. In the background, the actual Mass is
represented as being celebrated at the High
Altar. The architecture of the church (with
its triforium, clerestory, and apse, and its fine
reredos and screen) is well worth notice. So
are the figures of Our Lady, St. Peter, and St.
John, on the decorative work of the screen
360 Belgium : Its Cities
and reredos. I believe the kneeling figure be-
hind the officiating priest to be a portrait of
the donor. The side panels represent the other
sacraments, taking place in the aisles and lat-
eral chapels of the same church. To the left,
Baptism, Confirmation, Confession; in the
Confirmation, the children go away wearing
the sacred bandage. To the right, Holy
Orders, Matrimony, Extreme Unction. Each
of these groups should be carefully noted.
The colours of the angels above are all sym-
bolical : — white (innocence) for Baptism:
yellow (initiation) for Confirmation: red
(love or sin) for confession and absolution:
green (hope) for the Eucharist: purple (self-
sacrifice) for Holy Orders: blue (fidelity) for
Marriage: violet, almost black (death), for
Extreme Unction. The picture is full of other
episodes and mystical touches. In all this
beautiful and touching composition, the Mary
to the right of the Cross is perhaps the most
lovely portion. For a fine criticism, see Con-
way.
Beyond this, another frame with exquisite
small works.
250. Quentin Matsys: Head of Christ,
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 3^1
with the Crown of Thorns and Holy Blood;
painful.
540. Admirable unknown miniature por-
trait.
544. Excellent little St. Helena.
542. A little donor, with his patron, St.
John.
204, 205, 206, Good Lucas of Ley den, of
the Four Evangelists (John, missing). Luke,
with the bull, painting; Matthew, with the
angel, and Mark, with the lion, writing.
537. Admirable unknown portrait. These
Utile works again need no description, but
close study.
Above them, 244. Quentin Matsys (?).
The Misers, one of the best known of this fa-
vourite subject.
Then, another frame of miniatures.
517, 518. Unknown Flemish fourteenth
century Madonna and Child, with donor and
wife.
541, 542. Tolerable portraits.
545. Fine portrait, of the Spanish period.
410. ** Van Eyck's celebrated unfinished
St. Barbara, holding her palm of martyrdom,
and with her tower in the background. It
362 Belgium : Its Cities
should be closely studied, both as an indication
of the master's method, and as a contemporary
drawing illustrating the modes of mediaeval
building. For a careful criticism, see Conway.
Above these, Engelbrechtsen, 130. St. Hu-
bert, attired as bishop, bearing his crozier and
hunting-horn, and with the stag beside him,
with the crucifix between its horns.
127. The same. St. Leonard releasing
prisoners.
Then, another case of good small pictures.
3. A Fra Angelico. Interesting in the midst
of these Flemish pictures. St. Romuald re-
proaching the Emperor Otho III. for the
murder of Crescentius.
32. Petrus Christus ( ?). A donor and his
patron, St. Jerome.
64. A landscape by Patinir.
536. A Baptism of Christ, where note the
conventional arrangement and the angel with
the robe.
561. Triptych. Madonna and Child. St.
Christopher, and St. George. Harsh and
angular.
548. Mater Dolorosa, transpierced by the
sword.
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 363
535. Good Flemish Madonna with angels.
207. Lucas of Leyden : Adoration of the
Magi. You can now note for yourself the ox,
ass, Joseph, position, age, and complexion of
Kings, etc.
29. Attributed (doubtfully) to Dierick
Bouts : St. Christopher wading, with the infant
Christ. In the background, the hermit and
lantern. (See Mrs. Jameson.)
176. Giotto: A St. Paul with the sword.
Characteristic of early Florentine work.
257, 260. Simone Martini of Siena : Four
panels. Extreme ends, ** Annunciation,
closely resembling the figures in the Ufizzi at
Florence: Annunciations are often thus di-
vided into two portions. Centre, Crucifixion
and Descent from the Cross. These exquisitely
finished little works are full of the tender and
delicate spirit of the early Sienese School. In
the Crucifixion, notice particularly the Mag-
dalen, and St. Longinus piercing the side of
Christ. Our Lady in the Annunciation has the
fretful down-drawn mouth inherited by early
Italian art from its Byzantine teachers.
177. Giotto: St. Nicolas of Myra with the
three golden balls, protecting a donor.
364 Belgium : Its Cities
Above are three good portraits by Van
Orley, and other works which need no de^
scription.
On easels at the end, 255. Attributed to
MemHng : ** Exquisite Madonna and Child
in a church. Our Lady, arrayed as Queen of
Heaven, with a pot of lilies before her, stands
in the nave of a lovely early Gothic cathedral,
with a later Decorated apse, and admirable
rood-screen. Every detail of the tiles, the
crown, the screen, and the robe, as well as Our
Lady's hair and hands, should be closely looked
into. This is one of the loveliest pictures here.
It is a very reduced copy from one by Jan van
Eyck at Berlin : the church is that of the Abbey
of the Dunes near Furnes. Its attribution to
Memling has been disputed : Conway believes
it to be by a follower. In any case, it is
lovely.
256. ** Companion panel, of the donor, a
Cistercian Abbot of the Dunes, in a sump-
tuous room, half bedchamber, half study, with
a beautiful fireplace and fire. He kneels at his
prayers, having deposited his mitre on a cush-
ion beside him, and laid his crozier comfortably
by the fireplace. Creature comforts are not
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 365
neglected on the sideboard. Here also every
decorative detail should be closely examined.
These are two of the very finest works of the
School of Memling. Probably the Abbot ad-
mired Jan van Eyck's Madonna, painted for a
predecessor, and asked for a copy, with him-
self in adoration on the other wing of the
diptych.
At the back, on a revolving pivot,
530, 531. Christ blessing, and a Cistercian
Canon in adoration. As usual, the outer panels
are less brilliant in colouring than the inner.
Notice the Alpha and Omega and the P. and
F. (for Pater and Filius) on the curtain behind
the Saviour. These works are by an inferior
hand.
The other easel has a fine * Lucas van
Leyden: Adoration of the Magi, with fan-
tastic elongated figures. Note the ruined
temple. The other features will now be fa-
miliar. Lucas's treatment is peculiar. To the
left, St. George and the Dragon. The saint
has broken his lance and attacks the fearsome
beast with his sword. In the background, the
Princess Cleodolind and landscape. To the
right, the donor, in a rich furred robe, and
366 Belgium : Its Cities
behind him, St. Margaret with her dragon.
At the back, wings, by the same, with a
peculiar Annunciation (the wings being open,
reversed in order). Between them has been
unwisely inserted an Ecce Homo by Gossaert.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE ANTWERP PICTURE GALLERY : THE OTHER
halls: the RUBENS ROOM
NOW, go straight through Rooms H, F,
and E, to three rooms en suite, the last
of which is Room A, containing the Transi-
tional Pictures. (It is usual to skip these in-
sipid works of the intermediate age, and to
jump at once from the School of Van Eyck to
the School of Rubens — I think unwisely —
for Rubens himself can only properly be appre-
ciated as the product of an evolution, by the
light of the two main influences which affected
him — his Flemish masters, and his Italian
models, Veronese and Giulio Romano.) Be-
gin at the far end, near the lettered doorway,
and note throughout the effort to imitate
Italian art; the endeavour at classical knowl-
edge; and the curious jumble of Flemish and
367
368' Belgium ; Its Cities
Tuscan ideas. But the Flemish skill in por-
traiture still continues.
698. Good portrait of Giles van Schoon-
beke, by P. Pourbus.
Next to it, 103, Martin De Vos, the Elder :
St. Anthony the Abbot, accompanied by his
pig and bell, and his usual tempters, burying
the body of St. Paul the Hermit, whose grave
two lions are digging. To the right, hideous
Flemish devils, grotesquely horrible. Above,
phases of the Temptation of St. Anthony.
372. Michael Coxcie: Martyrdom of St.
George — one of his tortures. Good transi-
tional work, inspired by Italian feeling.
^j^. M. De Vos : Triptych, painted for the
altar of the Guild of Crossbowmen in the
Cathedral. Centre, Triumph of the risen
Christ. In the foreground, St. Peter (keys),
and St. Paul (sword), with open pages of
their writings. Left, St. George, patron of the
Crossbowmen, with his banner and armour;
right, St. Agnes with her lamb. Left panel,
Baptism of Constantine by St. Sylvester.
Right panel, Constantine ordering the erection
of the Church of St. George at Constantinople.
In the sky, the apparition of Our Lady to the
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 369
Emperor. A gigantic work, recalling the later
Italian Renaissance, especially the Schools of
Bronzino and Giulio Romano.
374. Michael Coxcie: Martyrdom of St.
George; the other wing of the same triptych
in honour of St. George as 372; central por-
tion lost.
89. M. De Vos: St. Conrad of Ascoli, a
Franciscan friar, in devout contemplation of
the founder of his Order, St. Francis, receiv-
ing the Stigmata, Around it, small scenes
from the life of St. Conrad, unimportant.
Below, Devotion at the tomb of St. Conrad:
royal personages praying, offerings of rich
images, and the sick healed by his relics. A
curious picture of frank corpse-worship.
699. Good portrait by Pourbus.
576. Triptych, unknown. St. Eligius of
Noyon (St. Eloy), one of the apostles of
Brabant, preaching to a congregation really
composed of good local portraits. (A pious
way of having oneself painted.) Right and
left, St. Eligius feeding prisoners, and St.
Eligius healing the sick.
741. Another of Bernard van Orley's
General Resurrections, the type of which will
370 Belgium : Its Cities
now be familiar to you. In the centre,
strangely introduced group of portraits of the
donors, engaged in burying a friend, whose
memory this triptych was doubtless intended
to commemorate. On either wing, the six
works of Mercy (the seventh, burial, is in the
main picture).
yy. Good transitional triptych, by M. De
Vos, for the Guild of Leather-dressers. Cen-
tre, The Incredulity of St. Thomas. On the
wings, Scenes from the life of the Baptist.
Left, Baptism of Christ; where note the per-
sistence of the little symbolical Jordan, with
angels almost inconspicuous. Right, The
Decollation of St. John. Salome receiving his
head in a charger. In the background,
Herodias.
371. Coxcie the Younger: Martyrdom of
St. Sebastian, patron saint of Bowmen, from
their altar in the Cathedral. An attempt to
be very Italian. The wings of this triptych are
by Francken. Left, St. Sebastian exhorting
Marcus and Marcellinus to go to martyrdom.
Right, St. Sebastian miraculously healing the
dumb woman, with portrait spectators, in dress
of the period, deeply interested.
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 371
Now go on into Room B (unlettered, the
centre of the three). It contains works of
an earlier period.
The left wall is entirely occupied by three
large panels of a fine old Flemish fifteenth
century picture, attributed to Memling (and
apparently accepted as his by Lafenestre),
representing * Christ Enthroned, with orb and
cross, surrounded by choirs of angels; those
in the central panel singing; the others, play-
ing various musical instruments. This is a
beautiful work, but less pleasing than those
of the same school on a smaller scale. It has
been recently bought from the monastery of
Najera in Spain. It was intended, I think, to
be seen at a height, probably on an organ-loft,
and loses by being placed so near the eye of
the spectator.
The opposite wall, on the right, is occupied
by 245, Quentin Matsys's masterpiece, the trip-
tych of ** the Entombment, painted for the
altar of the Guild of Cabinet-makers. The col-
ouring is much more pleasing than in the
Family of St. Anne at Brussels. Central
panel. The Entombment. Nicodemus supports
the emaciated body of the dead Saviour, while
'^J2 Belgium ; Its Cities
Joseph of Arimathea wipes the marks of the
crown of thorns from his head. The worn
body itself, with a face of pathetic suffering,
lies on the usual white sheet in the foreground.
At the foot, Mary Magdalen, with her pot of
ointment and long fair hair, strokes the body
tenderly. In the centre is the fainting Ma-
donna, supported, as always, by St. John, in
his red robe. Behind are the three Maries.
The usual attendant (a ruffianly Fleming, in
a queer turban-like cap) holds the crown of
thorns. At the back, preparations for the
actual placing in the sepulchre. In the back-
ground, Calvary.
The wings have scenes from the lives of the
two St. Johns. The left wing, the daughter
of Herodias, a very mincing young lady, in
a gorgeous dress, brings the head of St. John
the Baptist on a charger to her mother and a
fiercely-bearded Herod. The queen appears
to be about to carve it. Above, a gallery of
minstrels. Admirable drapery and accessories.
The right wing has the so-called Martyrdom
of St. John the Evangelist, in the cauldron of
boiling oil, with a delightful boy spectator
looking on in a tree. The Emperor Domitian
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 373
(older than history), on a white horse, behind.
Flemish varlets stir the fire lustily. This noble
work originally decorated the altar in the
Chapel of the Menuisiers of Antwerp in the
Cathedral.
On easels, 649, Claeissens : Triptych of the
Crucifixion, with the Way to Calvary and the
Resurrection. Elongated, attenuated figures.
680. Giles Mostaert (the elder) : Singular
complex picture, painted for the Hospital of
Antwerp; representing, above, The General
Resurrection : Christ enthroned between Our
Lady and St. John-Baptist. Beneath, naked
souls rising from the tomb. To the left, St.
Peter welcomes the just at the gate of the
Celestial City. To the right, devils drive the
wicked into the gaping jaws of Hell. Beneath,
the courses that lead to either end : the Seven
Works of Mercy, inspired by the Redeemer,
and the Seven Deadly Sins, suggested by
devils. I will leave you to identify them (it
is easy).
Go on into Room D, containing more works
of the Transition. These large altar-pieces
of the early seventeenth century, the period of
the greatest wealth in Antwerp, though often
374 Belgium : Its Cities
frigid, as works of art, are at least interesting
as showing the opulence and the tastes of the
Antwerp guilds during the epoch of the Span-
ish domination. They are adapted to the huge
Renaissance churches then erected, as the
smaller triptychs of the fifteenth century were
adapted to the smaller Gothic altars.
529. Feast of Archers, with the King of
the Archers enthroned in the background.
696, 697. Tolerable portraits by Pourbus.
183. A Madonna by Gossaert.
1 14. Frans Floris : St. Luke painting, with
his bull most realistically assisting, and his
workman grinding his colours. From the
old Academy of Painters, whose patron was
St. Luke. Italian influence.
135. Ambrose Francken: Loaves and
fishes.
148. The same. Decollation of St. Cosmo
and St. Damian: painted for the Guild of
Physicians, of whom these were the patron
saints.
357. A splendid and luminous Titian, in
the curious courtly ceremonial manner of the
Venetian painters. ** Pope Alexander VL
(Borgia), in a beautiful green dalmatic, intro-
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 375
ducing to the enthroned St, Peter his friend,
Giovanni Sforza da Pesaro, Bishop of Paphos,
and admiral of the Pope's fleet. At the
bishop's feet Hes his helmet, to show his double
character as priest and warrior. He grasps
the banner of the Borgias and of the Holy-
Church, In the background (to show who he
is), the sea and fleet. St, Peter's red robe is
splendid. The Venetians frequently paint
similar subjects, — " Allow me to introduce
to your Sainthood," etc. This is a fine work
in Titian's early harder manner, still some-
what reminiscent of the School of Bellini, Its
glorious but delicate colour comes out all the
better for the crudity of the works around it.
146, Ambrose Francken : St, Cosmo and
St, Damian, the Doctor Saints, amputating an
injured leg, and replacing it by the leg of a
dead Moor, In the background, other epi-
sodes of their profession, (Wing of the trip-
tych for the Guild of Physicians,)
83, M. De Vos : Triptych, painted for the
Guild of the Mint, and allusive to their func-
tions. Centre, The Tribute Money. " Render
unto Caesar," etc., with tempting Pharisees
and Sadducees, and Roman soldiers. In the
376 Belgium : Its Cities
foreground, St. Peter in blue and yellow, with
his daughter Petronilla. Left wing: Peter,
similarly habited, finds the tribute money in
the fish's mouth. Right wing : The Widow's
Mite. (The French titles, " Le Denier de
Cesar," " Le Denier du Tribut," " Le Denier
de la Veuve," bring out the allusion better.)
88. M. De Vos: St. Luke painting Our
Lady, with his bull, as ever, in attendance.
The wings by others. Left, St. Luke preach-
ing. Right, St. Paul before Felix. From the
altar of the (painters') Confraternity of St.
Luke in the Cathedral.
113. Frans Floris : Adoration of the Shep-
herds. Note persistence of formal elements
from old School, with complete transformation
of spirit.
112. Frans Floris's horrible St. Michael
conquering the devils; the most repulsive pic-
ture by this repulsive and exaggerated master.
Right and left of it, good late Flemish por-
traits of donors.
663. Floris : Judgment of Solomon.
483. Portrait of Van Veen, Rubens's
master.
Room E contains chiefly works of the School
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 377
of Rubens, most of which can now be satisfac-
torily comprehended by the reader without
much explanation. I will therefore treat them
briefly.
265. Murillo (Spanish School). St.
Francis. A reminiscence of the older subject
of his receiving the Stigmata. It has the
showy and affected pietism of the Spaniards.
A mere study.
439. An Adoration, by Van Mol, and
82. A Nativity, by De Vos, can be instruct-
ively compared with earlier examples.
775. Fine unknown Flemish portrait.
57. Good seventeenth century landscape.
722 and 724. Capital portraits.
655. Another Last Judgment. Beyond,
good fruit and flower-pieces by * Seghers
(framing an Ignatius Loyola) and De Rijng.
660, 661. Tolerable portraits by Cocx.
726. Teniers the Younger : The Duet.
Beyond this, several small Flemish works, of
which 348 and 728 are specially noteworthy.
712. Rubens : St. Dominic.
642. Attributed to Brueghel: Paying
tithes. Still life, etc.
Room F contains nothing which the reader
37^ Belgium : Its Cities
cannot adequately understand for himself.
Omit Room G for the present (it contains the
Dutch Masters), and turn instead into Room
H, mostly devoted to works of the School of
Rubens.
End Wall, 305. Rubens : * The Last Com-
munion of the dying St. Francis of Assisi. A
famous work, in unusually low tones of colour
— scarcely more than chiaroscuro. St. Fran-
cis, almost nude, is supported by his friars.
Above, angels, now reduced to cherubs, wait
to convey his soul to Heaven. Painted for
the altar of St. Francis in the Franciscan
Church of the Recollefs. See it from the far
end of the room, where it becomes much more
luminous.
On either side, 662, good portrait by S. De
Vos (himself, dashing and vigorous: every
inch an artist) : and 706, admirable * portrait
by Rubens of Gaspard Gevaerts, town secre-
tary. The bust is Marcus Aurelius.
Left Wall, 109. Fine portrait of a well-
fed Flemish merchant, William van Meerbeck,
by C. De Vos. Behind him his patron, St.
William.
403. Van Dyck's * Entombment (or
The Antwerp Picture Gallerj 379
Pieta), often called Descent from the Cross.
Tills is one of his noblest pictures, but badly
restored.
335. Angry swans disturbed by dogs.
Snyders.
215. Jordaens: Last Supper. The effect
of gloom somewhat foreshadows Rembrandt.
401. Van Dyck: ** A Dominican picture
(Guiffrey calls it " cold and empty ''), painted
at his father's dying wish for the Dominican
Nunnery at Antwerp. The two great saints
of the Order, St. Dominic, the founder, and
St. Catherine of Assisi, the originator of the
female branch, stand at the foot of the Cross,
which is itself a secondary object in the picture.
St. Dominic looks up in adoration ; St. Cather-
ine, wearing the crown of thorns, fervently
embraces the feet of the Saviour. On the
base, a child angel, in a high unearthly light,
with a half-extinguished torch, points with
hope to the figure of the crucified Lord. The
whole is emblematic of belief in a glorious
Resurrection, through the aid of the Domini-
can prayers. Interesting inscription on the
rock : " Lest earth should weigh too heavily
on his father's soul, A. van Dyck rolled this
380 Belgium : Its Cities
stone to the foot of the Cross, and placed it
in this spot."
677. Jordaens : ** Charming family scene,
known by the title of " As sing the Old, so
pipe the Young." Three generations — grand-
parents, parents, and children — engaged in
music together. Very catching : a most popu-
lar picture.
734. Good * portrait of a priest, by Van
Dyck.
402. Fine * portrait of a bishop of Ant-
werp, by Van Dyck.
708. One of the best * portraits by Rubens
in the Gallery : subject unknown : lacks per-
sonal dignity, but Rubens has made the most
of him.
This room also contains several other excel-
lent works of the School of Rubens or his
more or less remote followers, which I need
not particularize.
Now continue into Room I, containing what
are considered to be the gems among the
Rubenses and the later pictures.
Right of the door, Schut, 327 : The Behead-
ing of St. George. A pagan priest, behind,
endeavours to make him worship an image of
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 381
Apollo. Above, angels wait to convey his soul
to Heaven, This is a somewhat confused pic-
ture, with a spacious composition and a fine
luminous foreground; it is considered its
painter's masterpiece. Intended for the altar
of the Archers (whose patron was St. George),
in Antwerp Cathedral.
Beneath it, 644. P. Brueghel the Younger :
A village merrymaking (" Kermesse Fla-
mande") with more than the usual vulgarity
of episode.
673. Good still life by Gysels.
669. F. Francken : Portraits of a wealthy
family in their own picture gallery.
107. C. De Vos : * Portraits of the Snoek
family, in devotion to St. Norbert. This pic-
ture requires a little explanation. St. Norbert
was the Catholic antagonist of the heretic
Tankelin at Antwerp in the twelfth century.
In this frankly anachronistic picture the Snoek
family of the seventeenth century, portly, well-
fed burghers, are represented restoring to the
mediaeval saint the monstrance and other
church vessels removed from his church dur-
ing the Calvinist troubles. The Snoeks are
living personages; the Saint is envisaged as
382 Belgium : Its .Cities
a heavenly character. It is, in short, a highly
allegorical picture of the family showing their
devotion to true Catholicism, and their de-
testation of current heresy. In the background
stands the town of Antwerp, with the Cathe-
dral and St. Michael. (From the burial chapel
of the Snoek family at St. Michael.) There
is a Brueghel in Brussels Museum, represent-
ing St. Norbert preaching against Tankelin.
Beyond the door, unnumbered, * fine farm-
yard scene by Rubens, with the story of the
Prodigal Son in the foreground. One of the
many signs of his extraordinary versatility.
404. Van Dyck : ** Pieta, altar-piece for
a chapel of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows,
Our Lady holds on her lap the dead Christ,
while St. John points out with his finger the
wound in His hand to pitying angels. All the
formal elements in this scene — Our Lady,
St. John, the angels, etc. — belong to the
earlier conception of the Pieta, but all have
been entirely transfigured by Van Dyck in
accordance partly with the conceptions of the
School of Rubens, though still more with his
own peculiar imagination. It is interesting,
however, to note in this touching and beautiful
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The Antwerp Picture Gallery 383
picture, full of deep feeling, how far the type
of the St. John has been inherited, remotely,
from the School of Van der Weyden. Even
the red robe and long hair persist. The
features, too, are those with which we are
familiar. This is one of the gems of the
collection. It shows the direct influence of
Italian travel modifying Van Dyck's style,
acquired from Rubens.
Beyond, on either side of the great Rubens,
to be noticed presently, are two pictures by
his master, Otto van Veen: 480, The Calling
of Matthew, and 479, Zacchaeus in the Fig-
Tree. These two careful works recall the later
Italian Schools, more particularly Titian, and
are good examples of that careful academic
transitional Flemish art which Rubens was to
transform and revivify by the strength of his
own exuberant and powerful personality. They
are admirably placed here for comparison
with
297. Rubens's famous altar-piece of the Cru-
cifixion, for the Church of the Franciscans,
commonly known as the ** Coup de Lance.
In this splendid work Rubens is seen in one
of his finest embodiments. (" Incoherent,'*
384 Belgium : Its Cities
says Fromentin.) The figure of the dying
Christ has fine virility. St. Longinus, to the
left, on a white horse, is in the very act of pierc-
ing his side. The Magdalen, embracing the
foot of the Cross, as ever^ throws up her arms
with supplicating gesture. To the right are
the Madonna in blue, and St. John in red, as
always. Behind, a soldier is engaged in break-
ing the limbs of the Impenitent Thief (always
on Christ's left) who writhes in his torture.
The whole work is full of Rubens's life and
bustle, well contrasted with the academic calm
of the Van Veens beside it. Even those who
do not love Rubens (and I confess I am of
them) must see in such a work as this how his
great powers succeeded in effects at which his
contemporaries aimed ineffectually. Boldly
dramatic, but not sacred.
300. ** Triptych by Rubens, commonly
known as the Christ a la Faille, painted for a
tomb in the Cathedral (compare the Moretus
one). In the centre is a Fieta: Joseph of
Arimathea supporting the dead body of the
Christ on the edge of a stone covered with
straw. Behind, Our Lady and another Mary,
with the face of St. John just appearing in
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 385
the background. This " too famous " work
is rather a study of the dead nude than a
really sacred picture. Some of its details over-
step the justifiable limits of horror. The wings
are occupied by (the left), a so-called Madonna
and Child, really a portrait of a lady and boy
— (his wife and son?) : (the right), St. John
the Evangelist (patron of the person for whose
tomb it was painted), accompanied by his
eagle.
104. C. De Vos: Admirable and lifelike
** portrait of the messenger or porter of the
Guild of St. Luke, the Society of Painters of
Antwerp, exhibiting the plate belonging to his
confraternity. He is covered with medals,
which are the property of the Society, and has
the air of a shrewd and faithful servant.
This living presentment of a real man is de-
servedly popular.
171. J. Fyt: Excellent screaming eagles,
with a dead duck. One of the earliest and best
presentations of wild life at home.
The rest of this wall is occupied by some
tolerable gigantic altar-pieces and other good
works of the School of Rubens. Most of
them derive their chief interest from their
386 Belgium : Its Cities
evident inferiority in design and colour to the
handicraft of the Master. They are the very
same thing — with the genius omitted.
End v^all, 314, Rubens: called the * Holy
Trinity. The Almighty supports on His knees
the figure of the dead Christ. Behind, hovers
the Holy Ghost. On either side, boy angels
hold the crown of thorns, the three nails, and
the other implements of the Passion. This is
really a study in the science of foreshortening,
and in the painting of the dead nude, largely
suggested, I believe, by a still more unpleasing
Mantegna in the Brera at Milan.
719. Above. Excellent fishmongery by
Snyders.
212. Janssens: The Schelde bringing
wealth to Antwerp, in the allegorical taste of
the period.
1 72. Fyt : Excellent dogs and game.
299. Rubens : An ** allegorical picture to
enforce the efficacy ©f the prayers of St
Theresa. The foundress of the Scalzi, dressed
in the sober robe of her Carmelite Order, is
interceding with Christ for the soul of Ber-
nardino de Mendoza, the founder of a Car-
melite convent at Valladolid. Below, souls in
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 387
Purgatory. In the left-hand corner stands
Bernardino, whom, at St. T!heresa's prayer,
angels are helping to escape from torment. A
fine luminous picture of a most unpleasing
subject. Painted for the altar of St. Theresa
in the church of her own barefooted Carmel-
ites.
405. Van Dyck: Magnificent portrait of
Cesare Alessandro Scaglia, in black ecclesiasti-
cal robes, with lace cuffs and collar, and the
almost womanish delicate hands of a diplo-
matic, astute, couriier-like ecclesiastic. The
thoughtful eyes and resolute face might be-
long to a Richelieu.
305. Rubens : ** The Education of the
Virgin, painted for a chapel of St. Anne. A
charming domestic picture of a wealthy young
lady of Flanders, pretending to be Our Lady,
in a beautifully-painted white silk gown. Be-
side her, her mother, a well-preserved St.
Anne, of aristocratic matronly dignity. Be-
hind is St. Joachim, and above, two light little
baby angels. The feeling of the whole is
graceful courtly-domestic.
53. De Crayer: Elijah fed by ravens.
481, 482. Two scenes from the life of St.
388 Belgium : Its Cities
Nicholas, by Van Veen, the master of Rubens.
On the right, he throws through a window
three purses of gold as dowries for the three
starving daughters of a poor nobleman. (This
ornate treatment contrasts wonderfully with
the simpler early Italian pictures of the same
subject.) On the left, he brings corn for the
starving poor of Myra. Both pictures repre-
sent the bourgeois saint in his favourite char-
acter of the benefactor of the poor. They
are here well placed for rx>ntrast with
298. Rubens : ** Adoration of the Magi,
considered to be his finest embodiment of this
favourite subject, and one of his masterpieces.
To the right. Our Lady and Child, with the
ox in the foreground, and St. Joseph behind
her. To the left, two kings make their offer-
ings. Behind them, the third, a Moor, in an
Algerian costume, leering horribly. Above,
the ruined temple, the shed, and the camels.
M. Max Rooses calls this work " the chef
d'cciizre by which Rubens inaugurated his third
manner," and other critics praise loudly its
gorgeous colouring, its audacious composition,
its marvellous certainty. To me, the great
canvas, with its hideous ogling Moor, is simply
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 389
unendurable; but I give the gist of authorita-
tive opinion.
312. Rubens: * The Holy Family, known
as La Vierge au Perroquet. It is chiefly re-
markable as a rich and gorgeous piece of col-
ouring, with a charming nude boy of delicious
innocence.
313. Rubens: * Crucifixion. One of his
best embodiments of this subject.
214. Jordaens: Pharaoh in the Red Sea.
370. Van Cortbemde: The Good Samari-
tan, pouring in oil and wine in a most literal
sense. In the background, the priest and the
Levite.
The whole of this room contains several other
excellent altar-pieces, many of which are Fran-
ciscan. One of the best is 381, Van Hoeck,
Madonna and Child, with St. Francis, from
the Franciscan Church of the Recollets.
Now enter Room J. -
Right and left of door, 105 and 105 A, C.
De Vos : Portraits of a husband and wife,
with their sons and daughters.
315. Rubens: Small .copy (with varia-
tions) of the Descent from the Cross in the
Cathedral (by a pupil).
390 Belgium : Its Cities
307. Rubens : ** Triptych, to adorn a
tomb, for the funerary chapel of his friend
Rockox. Compare, for size and purpose, the
Moretus tomb in the Cathedral. It shows
the painter's early careful manner, and repre-
sents in its central piece the Incredulity of St.
Thomas. On the Wings, the Burgomaster
Nicolas Rockox, and his wife,''for whose tomb
it was painted. The wings are finer than the
central portion. This early work, still recall-
ing Van Veen's academic tone, should be com-
pared with the Van Veens and also with Ru-
bens's fine portrait of himself and his brother,
with Lipsius and Grotius, in the Pitti at Flor-
ence. It marks the earliest age, when he was
still content with comparatively small sizes,
and gave greater elaboration to his work, but
without his later dash and vigour. M. Rooses
thinks ill of it.
22. Good portraits by Boeyermans.
748. Van Thulden : Continence of Scipio.
709. Rubens, partly made up: Jupiter and
Antiope. A mythological subject, treated in a
somewhat Italian style, with a quaint little
huddling Cupid in the foreground.
Beyond this, three designs by Rubens for
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 391
Triumphal Cars and Arches, on the occasion
of the entry of Ferdinand of Austria in 1635.
406. Van Dyck's noble ** Crucifixion,
with the sun and moon darkened. One of his
most admirable pictures.
Room N contains several good portraits and
views of the town and other places, of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many of
them excellent as studies of Old Antwerp, en-
abling us to appreciate the greatness of the
architectural losses which the city has sustained.
These, however, are essentially works for the
visitor to inspect at his leisure. They need
little or no explanation.
Room O, beyond, has a good copy, 413, etc.,
of the Adoration of the Lamb at Ghent, useful
for filling up the gaps in your knowledge, and
more readily inspected at leisure and from a
nearer point of view than the original. The
portraits and battle scenes on the remaining
walls need little comment.
Now return to Room G, containing the
Dutch Pictures. Many of these are master-
pieces of their sort, but need here little save
enumeration. The Reformation turned Dutch
art entirely upon portraiture, landscape,
392 Belgium : Its Cities
and domestic scenes. Dutch art is frankly
modern.
Right of the door, 768, Van der Velde:
Fine landscape, with cows.
773. A fine Wynants.
293. Rembrandt : ** Admirable portrait of
his wife, Saskia; almost a replica of the one
at Cassel, perhaps either painted by a pupil,
or else from memory after her death, and
badly restored. It breathes Dutch modesty.
427. Flowers by Van Huysum.
705. Excellent * portrait of a Burgomaster,
by Rembrandt.
349, Terburg : * Girl playing a mando-
line.
628, Unknown: perhaps Frans Hals: Ex-
cellent portrait of a calm old lady.
668. Karel du Jardin: Admirable land-
scape, with cows.
Above it, 188, celebrated and vigorous
** Fisher-boy of Haarlem, with a basket, by
Frans Hals, rapidly touched with the hand of
a master.
738. Venus and Cupid, by W. van Mieris.
399. W. van de Velde the younger : Calm
sea, with ships.
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 393
Beyond the door a number of excellent small
pieces, including two good characters by Rem-
brandt — a beautiful little Wynants, 402, and
a charming Schalken, 324.
437. Excellent fishmonger, by W. van
Mieris.
319. Rubens and Brueghel: Small copy of
the Dead Christ.
382. B. van der Heist : Child with a dog.
338. Jan Steen: Samson and the Philis-
tines, as Jan Steen imaged it.
398. Admirable cows, by A. van de Velde.
466. * The Smoker, by A. van Ostade.
767. Admirable calm sea-piece, by Van der
Capelle.
679. Some of Molenaer's peasant folk.
682. Arch and charming portrait, by
Mytens.
339. One of Jan Steen's village merry-
makings.
674. Admirable * portrait, by Frans Hals,
of a round-faced, full-blooded, sensuous Dutch
gentleman. Full of dash and vigour.
675. A mill, by Hobbema.
752. Weenix poaching on Hondecoeter's
preserves.
394 Belgium : Its Cities
26. Delicate soft landscape, by J. and A.
Both.
713. Ruysdael: * Waterfall in Norway.
The room is full of other fine and delicately-
finished pictures of the Dutch School, of which
I say nothing, only because they are of the
kind which are to be appreciated by careful
examination, and which do not need explana-
tion or description.
Room K contains Flemish works of the
later School of Rubens and the beginning of
the decadence.
The remaining rooms of the Gallery have
modern pictures, belonging to the historical
and to the archaic Schools of Antwerp. These
works lie without the scope of the present
Guides, but many of them are of the highest
order of merit, and they well deserve attention
both for their own intrinsic excellence and for
comparison with the works of the fifteenth and
early sixteenth centuries on which they are
based. The paintings of Leys and his fol-
lowers, in particular, are especially worth con-
sideration in this connection. These painters
have faithfully endeavoured to revert to the
principles and methods of the great early
The Antwerp Picture Gallery 395
Flemish Masters, and though their work has
often the almost inevitable faults and failings
of a revival, it cannot fail to interest those
who have drunk in the spirit of Van Eyck and
Memling.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE TOWN OF ANTWERP IN GENERAL
MEDIAEVAL Antwerp, now no more, lay
within a narrow ring of walls in the
neighbourhood of the Cathedral. Its circum-
ference formed a rough semicircle, whose
base-line was the Schelde, while its outer walls
may still be traced on a good map about the
Rempart Ste. Catherine and the Rempart du
Lombard. This oldest district still remains on
the whole an intricate tangle of narrow and
tortuous streets, with a few ancient buildings.
Later Renaissance Antwerp stretched to the
limit of the existing Avenues in their northern
part, though the southern portion (from the
Place Leopold on) extends beyond the bound-
ary of the seventeenth century city, and occu-
pies the site of the huge demolished Old
Citadel, built by Alva. Antwerp, however,
396
The Town of Antwerp 397
has undergone so many changes, and so few
rehcs of the mediaeval age now survive, that
I can hardly apply to its growth the historical
method I have employed in other Belgian
towns. It will be necessary here merely to
point out the principal existing objects of inter-
est, without connecting them into definite ex-
cursions.
The centre of mediaeval Antwerp was the
Grand' Place, which may be reached from the
Place Verte, through the little triangular
Marche aux Gants, in front of the main
facade of the Cathedral. It was, however, so
entirely modernized under the Spanish regime
that it now possesses very little interest. The
west side of the square is entirely occupied by
the H6tel-de-Ville, a poor Renaissance build-
ing, which looks very weak after the magnifi-
cent Gothic Town-Halls of Bruges, Ghent,
Brussels, and Louvain. The fagade is ex-
tremely plain, not to say domestic. The
ground floor has an arcade in imitation of
Italian rustica work, above which come two
stories with Doric and Ionic columns (and
Corinthian in the centre) ; the top floor being
occupied by an open loggia, supporting the
39^ Belgium ; Its Cities
roof. In the centre, where we might expect a
spire, rises a false gable-end, architecturally
meaningless. The niche in the gable is occu-
pied by a statue of Our Lady with the Child
(1585), the patroness of the city, flanked by
allegorical figures of Wisdom and Justice.
The interior has been modernized : but it
contains one fine hall, the Salle Leys, decorated
with noble archaistic paintings by Baron Leys.
It may be visited before nine, or after four in
the evening (one franc to the concierge). In
the Burgomaster's Room is also a good
Renaissance chimneypiece, from the Abbey of
Tongerloo, with reliefs of the Marriage at
Cana, the Brazen Serpent, and Abraham's Sac-
rifice.
The square contains a few Guild Houses
of the seventeenth century, the best of which
is the Hall of the Archers, to the right of the
H6tel-de-Ville, a handsome and conspicuous
building, lately surmounted by a gilt figure
of St. George slaying the Dragon, in honour
of the patron saint of the Archers. The older
Guild Houses, however, were mostly destroyed
by the Spaniards. The square, as it stands,
being Renaissance or modern, cannot compare
The Town of Antwerp 399
with the Grand' Place in most other Belgian
cities.
The centre of the Place is occupied by a
bronze fountain, with a statue of Silvius Brabo,
a mythical hero of mediaeval invention, in-
tended to account for the name Brabant.
He is said to have cut off the hand of the
giant Antigonus, who exacted a toll from all
vessels entering the Schelde, under penalty of
cutting off the hand of the skipper, — a myth
equally suggested by a false etymology of Ant-
werp from Hand Werpen (Hand throwing).
The Hand of Antwerp, indeed, forms part of
the city arms, and will meet you on the lamp-
posts and elsewhere. It is, however, the ordi-
nary Hand of Authority (Main de Justice), or
of good luck, so common in the East, and
recurring all over Europe, as on the shields
of our own baronets. Such a hand, as an
emblem of authority, was erected over the gate
of many mediaeval Teutonic cities.
One of the objects best worth visiting in
Antwerp, after the Cathedral and the Picture-
Gallery, is the Plantin-Moretus Museum, con-
taining many memorials of a famous family
of Renaissance printers, whose monuments
400 Belgium : Its Cities
we have already seen in the Cathedral. To
reach it you turn from the Place Verte into
the Rue des Peignes, almost opposite the south
door of the Cathedral. The second turning to
the right will lead you into the small Place du
Vendredi, the most conspicuous building in
which is the Museum.
Beyond advising a visit, it is difficult to say
much about this interesting old house and its
contents. Those who are lovers of typography
or of old engravings will find enough in it
to occupy them for more than one morning.
Such had better buy the admirable work, " Le
Musee Plantin-Moretus," by M. Max Rooses,
the conservator. On the other hand, the gen-
eral sightseer will at least be pleased with the
picturesque courtyard, draped in summer by
the mantling foliage and abundant clusters of
a magnificent old vine, as well as with the
spacious rooms, the carved oak doorways, bal-
ustrades, and staircases, the delicious galleries,
the tiles and fireplaces, and the many admirable
portraits by Rubens or others. Were it merely
as a striking example of a Flemish domestic
interior of the upper class during the Spanish
The Town of Antwerp 401
period, this Museum would well deserve atten-
tion. Read the following notes before starting.
The house of Plantin was established by
Christopher Plantin of Tours (born 15 14),
who came to Antwerp in 1549, and established
himself as a printer in 1555. He was made
Archetypographer to the King by Philip II.,
and the business was carried on in this building
by himself, his son-in-law, Moretus, and his
descendants, from 1579 till 1875. It was
Plantin's daughter, Martina, who married
John Moretus (see the Cathedral), and under
the name of Plantin-Moretus the business was
continued through many generations to our
own day. The firm were essentially learned
printers, setting up works in Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew, or even in Oriental types, and issu-
ing editions of many important classical
authors. I will not describe the various rooms,
about which the reader can wander for himself
at his own sweet will, but will merely mention
that they contain admirable portraits of the
Plantin and Moretus families, and of their fa-
mous editor, Justus Lipsius, by Rubens, and
others. (The Lipsius is particularly inter-
esting for comparison with the one at Florence
402 Belgium : Its Cities
in the Pitti.) The dwelling- rooms and recep-
tion-rooms of the family, with their fine early
furniture, are now open to the visitor. So is
the quaint little shop, facing the street, the
composing-room and proof-readers' room, the
study occupied by Lipsius, and the library,
with examples of many o-f the books printed by
the firm. The original blocks of their wood-
cuts and of their capital letters, with the plates
of their engravings, are likewise shown, to-
gether with old and modern impressions. Do
not suppose from this, however, that the place
is only interesting to book-hunters or lovers
of engravings. The pictures and decorations
alone, — nay, the house itself, — will amply
repay a visit.
A walk should be taken from the Place
Verte, by the Vieux Marche au Ble, or through
the Marche aux Gants, to the river-front and
Port of the Schelde. (Follow the tram-line.)
Here two handsome raised promenoirs or es-
planades, open to the public, afiford an excellent
* view over the river, the old town, and the
shipping in the harbour.
The southernmost (and pleasantest) of these
promenoirs ends near the Porte de I'Escaut, a
The Town of Antwerp 403
somewhat insignificant gateway, designed by
Rubens, and adorned with feeble sculpture by
Arthus Quellin. It stood originally a little
lower down the river, but has been removed,
stone by stone, to its present situation. The
quaint red building, with hexagonal turrets
at the angles, visible from both esplanades, is
the Vieille Boucherie, or Butchers' Guild Hall,
of 1503. It stands in a squalid quarter, but
was once a fine edifice. Near the north end of
this promenoir, a ferry-boat runs at frequent
intervals to the Tete-de-Flandre on the opposite
shore of the river. Here there is a Kursaal
and a strong fort. It is worth while crossing
on a fine day in order to gain a general view
of the quays and the town. The northernmost
promenoir is approached by an archway under
the castellated building known as the Steen.
This is a portion of the old Castle of Ant-
werp, originally belonging to the Margraves
and the Dukes of Brabant, but made over by
Charles V. to the burghers of Antwerp. The
Inquisition held its sittings in this castle. It
is now, though much restored and quite mod-
ern-looking (except the portal), almost the only
remaining relic of Mediaeval Antwerp, outside
404 Belgium : Its Cities
the Cathedral. It contains a small Museum
of Antiquities (unimportant; open daily, ten
to four: one franc: Sunday and Thursday
free). Unless you have plenty of time you
need not visit it.
A little way beyond the north end of the
northern promenoir a tangled street leads to
the Church of St. Paul, which will be described
hereafter. Continuing along the Quays in this
direction you arrive at last at the Docks. The
large modern castellated building in front of
you is the Pilotage, round which sea-cap-
tains congregate in clusters. Turning along
the dirty quay to the right, you reach shortly
on the left the site of the Maison Hanseatique,
which was the entrepot in Antwerp of the
Hanseatic League. But it was burnt down a
few years since, and its place is now occupied
by mean sheds and warehouses. All this
quarter is given over to the most unsightly and
malodorous realities of modern seafaring life
and commerce.
Antwerp is somewhat ill provided with
drives or country walks. The prettiest of its
public gardens is the little Park, which may
be reached from the Avenue des Arts by either
The Town of Antwerp 405
of the three main Avenues eastward, adorned
respectively with statues of Quentin Matsys,
Leys, and Jordaens. The Park is a small but
ingeniously laid out triangular area, occupy-
ing the site of an old bastion, with a pleasing
sheet of ornamental water (originally the
moat), crossed by a bridge, and backed up by
the twin spires of the modern Church of St.
Joseph. Around it lies the chief residential
quarter of nineteenth century Antwerp. This
is a cool stroll in the afternoon, for one tired
of sightseeing. (Ask your hotel porter when
and where the band plays daily.) Further on
in the same direction is the pretty little public
garden known as the Pepiniere, and lying in
a pleasant open quarter. A band plays here
also.
The Zoological Garden, just behind the
Gare de I'Est (admission one franc), is well
worth a visit if you are making a stay. It is
particularly well stocked with birds and ani-
mals, and has a rather pretty alpine rock-
garden. On Sunday afternoons, a good band
plays here from three to six, and all Antwerp
goes to listen to it.
A round of the Avenues may best be made
4o6 Belgium : Its Cities
in an open tram. The northern portion, leading
from the Entrepot and the Goods Station as
far as the Place de la Commune, has few ob-
jects of interest. In the Place de la Commune
you pass, on the right, the handsome and ornate
Flemish Theatre; while, on the left, the Rue
Camot leads to the Zoological Garden, and to
the uninteresting industrial suburb of Borger-
hout. Beyond this comes a Covered Market, on
the left, and then the Place Teniers, with a
statue of Teniers. Here the Avenue de Ke}ser
leads to the main Railway Station (Gare de
I'Est) . Further on, the Avenue Marie-Therese,
with a statue of Matsys, runs to the Park. So, a
little later, do the Avenue Louise-Marie, with
a statue of Leys, and the Avenue Marie-Hen-
riette, with a statue of Jordaens. The hand-
some building, with domed and rounded tur-
rets, on your right, just beyond the last-named
Avenue, is the Banque Nationale, intended to
contain the public treasure of Belgium in case
of war. Here the Chaussee de Malines leads
ofif, southeasterly, to the uninteresting suburb
of Berchem. The heavy new building on the
left, a little further south, looking like a French
mediaeval chateau, is the Palais de Justice.
The Town of Antwerp 407
From this point the Avenue du Sud runs
through an unfinished district, occupying the
site of the old Citadel (Alva's) past the
Museum and the Palais de 1' Industrie, to the
desolate Place du Sud, with the South Rail-
way Station. You can return by tram along
the Quays to the H6tel-de-Ville and the
Cathedral.
If you have plenty of time to spare, you may
devote a day to the Rococo Churches. Most of
the Antwerp churches, other than the Cathe-
dral, are late Gothic or Renaissance buildings,
disfigured by all the flyaway marble deco-
rations so strangely admired during the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. Few of them
deserve a visit, save for a picture or two of
Rubens still preserved on their altars. There
are one or two, however, usually gone through
by tourists, and of these I shall give some brief
account, for the benefit of those who care for
such things, though I do not think you need
trouble about them, unless you have plenty
of time, and are specially attracted by the
later School of Antwerp.
The most important of these rococo
churches is St. Jacques, the principal door-
4o8 Belgium : Its Cities
way of which opens into the Longue Rue
Neuve. The pleasantest way to reach it, how-
ever, is to go from the Place Verte through
the Marche aux SouHers, following the tram-
way to the Place de Meir. This broad street
(one of the few open ones in Antwerp), lined
by baroque Renaissance mansions of some pre-
tensions, has been formed by filling up an old
canal. The most imposing building on the
right, marked by two angels holding an oval
with the letter L (the king's initial), is the
Royal Palace. A little further on, upon the
same side of the street, is the House of
Rubens's Parents, with his bust above, and
an inscription on its pediment signifying the
fact in the Latin tongue. To reach St. Jacques
you need not go quite as far down the street
as these two buildings. Turn to your left at
the Bourse, a handsome modern edifice, stand-
ing at the end of what looks like a blind alley.
The road runs through it, and it is practically
used as a public thoroughfare. The building
itself is recent — 1869 — 72 — but it occupies
the site of a late-Gothic Exchange of 1531,
erected by Dominic van Waghemakere. The
present Bourse resembles its predecessor some-
HOUSE OK RUBENS'S PARENTS, ANTWERP.
The Town of Antwerp 409
what in style, but is much larger, has an in-
congruous Moorish tinge, and is provided
with a nondescript glass-and-iron roof. Turn
to the right at the end of the lane, and continue
down the Longue Rue Neuve, which leads you
toward St. Jacques, a late-Gothic church, never
quite completed. The entrance is not by the
JQ'Qade, but on the south side, in the Longue
Rue Neuve. (Visitors admitted from noon
till four in the afternoon, one franc per person.
Knock at the door, and the sacristan will open.)
The interior is of good late-Gothic architec-
ture, terribly over-loaded with Renaissance
tombs and sprawling baroque marble deco-
rations. The church was used as the Pantheon
(or Westminster Abbey) for burials of dis-
tinguished Antwerp families under the Spanish
domination; and they have left in every part
of it their ugly and tasteless memorials.
Begin in the south aisle.
First chapel. Van Dyck : St. George and
the Dragon : mediocre. Above, statue of St.
George, to whom angels offer crowns of mar-
tyrdom. Good modem marble reliefs of
Scenes from the Passion, continued in subse-
quent chapels.
410 Belgium : Its Cities
At the end, Baptistery, with good font.
Second chapel, of St. Anthony. Tempta-
tion of St. Anthony, by M. De Vos. ItaHan
seventeenth century Madonna.
Third chapel, of St. Roch, the great plague-
saint. It contains an altar-piece by E. Quellin,
angels tending St. Roch when stricken with
the plague. Above, the saint with his staff
and gourd, in marble, accompanied by the
angel who visited him in the desert. On the
window wall, relics of St. Roch, patron against
the plague. Round this chapel and the succeed-
ing ones are a series of pictures from the Life
of St. Roch, by an unknown Flemish master,
dated 15 17. They represent St. Roch in
prison; relieved by the dog; resting in the
forest; visited by the angel; etc. (See Mrs.
Jameson.) A tomb here has a good Virgin
and Child.
Fourth chapel. Fine old tomb; also, con-
tinuation of the History of St. Roch.
Fifth chapel. More History of St. Roch.
On the wall, relics of St. Catherine, who
stands on the altar-piece with her sword and
wheel; balanced, as usual, by St. Barbara.
The chapel is dedicated to St. Anna, who is
INTERIOR OF ST. JACQUES, ANTWERP.
The Town of Antwerp 411
seen above the altar, with Our Lady and the
Infant.
Sixth chapel. Baptism of Christ, by Michael
Coxcie, on the altar. Window wall, M. De
Vos: Triptych: Centre, Martyrdom of St.
James; left, the daughter of the Canaanite;
right, the daughter of Jairus. (The wings
are by Francken.)
The south transept has Renaissance figures
of the Apostles (continued in the north tran-
sept).
The choir is separated from the nave and
transepts by an ugly Renaissance rood-screen.
The Chapel of the Host, in the south tran-
sept, is full of twisting and twirling Renais-
sance marble-work, well seconded by equally
obtrusive modern works in the same spirit.
The ambulatory has a marble screen, sepa-
rating it from the choir^ in the worst taste of
the Renaissance, with many rococo tombs
and sculptures of that period plastered against
it.
First chapel, of the Trinity, has a Holy
Trinity for altar-piece, by Van Balen.
The door to the left gives access to the
412 Belgium : Its Cities
choir, with an atrocious sculptured High Altar,
and carved choir-stalls.
Second and third chapels, uninteresting.
The end chapel, behind the High Altar, is
the burial-chapel of the Rubens family. The
altar-piece, painted by Rubens for his family
chapel, represents the Madonna and Child
adored by St. Bonaventura; close by stands
the Magdalen; to the left a hurrying St.
George (reminiscent of the St. Sebastian by
Veronese at Venice), and to the right, a very
brown St. Jerome. The calm of the central
picture, with its group of women, is interfered
with by these two incongruous male figures.
It is like parts of two compositions, joined
meaninglessly together. Above are infant
cherubs scattering flowers. One would say,
Rubens had here thrown together a number
of separate studies for which he had no par-
ticular use elsewhere. But the colour is most
mellow.
Fifth chapel, of St. Carlo Borromeo (who
practically replaced St. Roch in later cosmo-
politan Catholicism as the chief plague-saint).
The altar-piece, by Jordaens, represents the
saint invoking the protection of Christ and
RUBENS. MADONNA AND CHILD.
The Town of Antwerp 413
Our Lady for the plague-stricken in the fore-
ground. Painted for the town almoner.
Sixth chapel. Three good portraits.
Seventh chapel. Visitation, by Victor Wolf-
voet.
The north transept has the continuation of
the Twelve Apostles, with two of the four
Latin Fathers by the portal (the other two
being at the opposite doorway). The chapel
(of Our Lady) resembles that in the south
transept, and is equally terrible.
North aisle: The second chapel has a fine
triptych by M. De Vos, of the Glory of Our
Lady. Centre, the Court of Heaven, where
the prominent position of Our Lady is unusual,
and marks an advanced phase of her cult. In
the assemblage of saints below, St. Peter, St.
John the Baptist, and many others, may be
recognized by their symbols. The left wing
has the Calling of Matthew; the right wing,
St. Hubert, with the apparition of the cru-
cifix between the horns of the stag. Beneath
are good portraits of donors. The fine stained
glass window of this chapel is noteworthy. It
represents the Last Supper, with donors
(1538).
414 Belgium : Its Cities
The third chapel, of the Rockox family, has
a good triptych, by Van Orley, of the Last
Judgment. On the wings are portraits of the
donor and family. Left wing, Adrian Rockox
and sonSj with his patron, St. Adrian (sword,
anvil). Right wing, his wife, Catherine, with
her daughters, and her patroness, St. Cath-
erine.
Fourth chapel. Grood triptych by Balen.
Centre, Adoration of the Magi ; right and
left, Annunciation and Visitation. On a tomb
opposite, good portraits by Ryckaert,
Fifth chapel. Triptych, by M. De Vos:
Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple. Left,
The Pagans attempt in vain to burn the body
of St. Mark; rights Martyrdom of St. Lucy.
Another church frequently visited by tour-
ists is St. Paul, formerly belonging to a Domin-
ican Monastery by its side, and situated in a
dirty and malodorous district. Do not at-
tempt to go to it direct. Reach it by the
Quays, turning to the right near the end of
the Northern Promenoir. Over the outer
doorway of the court is a rococo relief of St.
Dominic receiving the rosary from Our Lady.
To the right, as you enter, is an astonishing
The Town of Antwerp 415
and tawdry Calvary, built up with rock and
slag against the wall of the transept. It has,
above, a Crucifixion ; below, Entombment and
Holy Sepulchre. All round are subsidiary
scenes: St. Peter, with the crowing cock;
Christ and the Magdalen in the Garden;
Angels to lead the way, etc. The church itself
is an imposing late-Gothic building, uglified
by unspeakable rococo additions. (Admission,
from twelve till four. Knock at the door:
one franc per person. But unless you are a
great admirer of Rubens, the sum is ill-be-
stowed for seeing one or two of his less im-
portant pictures.) In the north transept is
Rubens's * Scourging of Christ, covered : the
only thing here really worth seeing. In the
north aisle, one of his weakest Adorations of
the Magi. On the altar of the Sacrament,
a so-called " Dispute on the Sacrament," by
Rubens: really, the Fathers and Doctors of
the Church, especially the Dominicans, rep-
resented by St. Thomas Aquinas, in devout
contemplation of the Mystery of the Eucha-
rist. The other pictures in the church are rela-
tively uninteresting works of the School of
4i6 Belgium: Its Cities
Rubens ; the best is a Way to Calvary, by Van
Dyck.
If you want more Rubenses, you will find
a Madonna, with a great group of Augustinian
and primitive saints, in the Church of St. Au-
gustine (Rue des Peignes), where there is also
a good Ecstasy of St. Augustine, by Van Dyck ;
and in the Church of St. Anthony of Padua
(Marche aux Chevaux), a picture, partly by
Rubens, representing St. Anthony receiving
the Child Jesus from the hands of the Virgin :
but I do not recommend either excursion.
Antwerp is strongly fortified, and a moat,
filled with water, runs round its existing en-
ceinte. The Old Citadel to the south has been
demolished (its site being now occupied by
the Museum and the unfinished quarter in that
direction), and a New Citadel erected in the
north. The defensive works are among the
finest in Europe.
If you are returning to England, via Calais,
stop on the way to see the noble Romanesque
and Transitional Cathedral at Tournay, You
can. easily do this without loss of time by tak-
The Town of Antwerp 4^7
ing the first boat train from Brussels in the
morning, stopping an hour or two at Tournay
(break permitted with through tickets), and
going on by the second train. You can regis-
ter your luggage through to London, and have
no more bother with it. You will then have
seen everything of the first importance in
Belgium, except Ypres. And Ypres is so in-
accessible that I advise you to neglect it.
If you wish to see whither Flemish art went,
you must go on to Holland. But if you wish
to know whence Flemish art came, you must
visit the Rhine Towns.
THE END.
INDEX.
Academic des Beaux-Arts,
Bruges, 121-132.
Aertsen, 244-245.
Albani, 267.
Alva, 35, 38, 39, 152.
Ancienne Cour, Brussels, 103.
Ancien Greffe, Bruges (see
Place du Bourg).
Angelo, Michael, 1 13-114.
Antwerp, 29, 40, 194, 209, 217,
286, 317-417-
Antwerpen (see Antwerp).
An vers (see Antwerp).
Apse of St. Michael, 147-148.
Backhuysen, 265.
Bastile of Brussels (see Porte
de Hal).
Bateliers, Maison des, Ghent
(see Guild House of the
Skipjjers).
Beaugrant, Guyot de, 68, 69.
Beaux-Arts, Acad6mie des,
Bruges (see Acadentie des
Beaux-Arts).
Belfry, The (Ghent), 141, 143,
US, 179-
Belgian School, The Modem
(see Modem Picture Gal-
lery, The).
Belliard, Statue of, 107.
Bethune, Jean, 103,
Biset, Emanuel, 80.
Bles, Herrimet, 114-115, 248,
356.
Blondeel, Lancelot, 66, 117,
130, 243-
Boeyermans, 390.
Bois de la Cambre, Brussels,
293-294.
Bol, 260, 261, 262, 266.
Bosch, J., 243, 247, 355.
Botanical Gardens, Brussels,
290.
Botanical Gardens, Ghent,
179.
Both, J. and A., 394.
Bouts, Dierick, 75, 106, 209,
227-230, 234, 23s, 304,
313-315, 358, 363-
Brekelenkamp, 261-262.
Bril, 358.
Breughel, P., the Elder, 243-
244.
Breughel, P., the Younger,
243, 381-
419
420
Index.
Bruges, 13 et seq., 19, 45, 99-
132, 193-195, 208, 228,
30o> 317, 319, 320, 352,
397-
Brussels, 21, 29, 37, 41, 46,
193-316, 320, 397.
Campin, Robert, of Tour-
nay, 359.
Carondolet, Archbishop, 106.
Cathedral, of Antwerp, 320,
324, 326-340, 373, 399-
402.
Cathedral, of Brussels, 196,
270-283.
Catiiedral, of Ghent, 141,
155-178, 180.
Cathedral, of Malines, 316.
Cathedral of St. Donatian
(see St. Donatian).
Cathedral of St. Sauveur
(see St. Salvator, Cathedral
of).
Caxton, 52.
Chapelle de I'Expiation
(Stolen Hosts), Brussels,
294-295.
Charles V., 21, 32, 69, 138,
153, 182, 191-193, 221,
277-279, 282, 291, 300,
319-
Charles the Bdd, 28, 31 et
seq.
Charles of Lorraine, 201.
Chaussee de Louvain, Brus-
sels, 293.
Claeissens, iii.
Clouet, 378.
Cocx, 377.
CoUacie-Zolder (see Munic-
ipal Council Room,
Ghent).
Coninxloo, Jan, 235, 237-
238, 245-246.
Conservatoire de Musique,
Brussels, 287.
Coxcie, Michael, 162, 163,
168, 169, 278, 279, 368,
369, 411.
Coxcie, The Younger, 370.
Coxcie, R., 188.
Cranach, The Elder, 236, 241,
350. 352.
Crivelli, Carlo, 267, 268.
Cuyp, Albert, 260, 262.
D'Arthois, J., 258.
David, Gerard, 64, 75, 113,
120, 125, 128, 129, 131,
228, 232, 342.
De Backer, 337.
De BiSfve, Edouard, 286.
De Bruyn, 225.
De Champaigne, Philippe,
252, 258.
De Crayer, 115, 186, 189,
190, 249, 252-254, 258,
259, 387-
De Heem, 260, 261.
De Keyser, N., 263, 348.
Delia Robbia (see Robbia,
Luca Delia).
Devigne, 55.
De Vos, C, 187, 254, 378,
381, 385, 389-
De Vos, M., 247, 331, 368-
370, 375-376, 413, 414.
De Vos, Martin, the Elder,
368.
De Vos, Paul, 255.
De Vos, S., 378.
De Voys, A., 263.
De Witte, 264.
Dietrich, 262.
Index,
421
Dou, Gerard, 262.
Du Chatel, 251.
Du Jardin, Karel, 261, 262.
392-
Dunwege, 355, 356.
Duquesnoy, 178.
Durer,.Albert, 350, 358.
Dusart, 261.
Dyver, The (Bruges), 49, 52,
54-
Eglise du Sablon (see N6tre
Dame des Victoires, Church
of).
Engelbrechtsen, St. Hubert,
362.
Ethnographical Museum,
Brussels (see Porte de
Hal).
Exhibition Grounds, Brus-
sels, 293.
Floris, Frans, 374, 376.
Fouquet, 175, 357.
Fox, House of the (see Grand'
Place, Brussels).
Francken, Ambrose, 339, 340,
374, 375, 381.
Fyol, 354-
Fyt, J., 250, 385.
Gallait, Louis, 286.
Ghent, 13, 19, 26, 34 et seq.,
46, 133-195, 208, 212, 213,
226, 267, 300, 317, 319, 320,
397-
Giotto, 363.
Gossaert, 353, 355, 356, 366,
374-
Gossaert, J., 183, 215.
Grand B6guinage, Ghent,
190-191.
Grande Boucherie, Ghent (see
Marche aux Herbes).
Grand' Place, Antwerp, 396-
403-
Grand' Place, Bruges, 49, 52,
56-59-
Grand' Place, Brussels, 194-
195, 197-203, 272.
Grand' Place, Louvain, 306-
309-
Gruuthuus, Van der, 108.
Guimard, 288.
Gysels, 381.
Hague, The, 264.
Hals, Frans, 46, 264, 265, 393,
394.
Halles Centrales, Brussels,
205.
Heemskerck, 232.
Heraling (see Memling).
Hendrick, 330.
Herreyns, 251.
High Church of Our Lady
(see Cathedral, The, of
Antwerp).
Hobbema, 250, 265, 393.
Holbein, Hans, the Younger,
220, 253, 257.
Holy Sudarium, ss3, 334-
Hondekoeter, 189, 264-266,
393-
H6pital de St. Jean, Bruges
(see St. John, Hospital of).
Hotel Bellevue, Brussels, 288.
Hotel des Brasseurs (see
Grand' Place, Brussels).
Hotel de Ville, Antwerp, 328,
397-398.
H6tel de Ville, Bruges, 60-61.
H6tel de Ville, Brussels, 194,
198-201, 283.
422
Index.
H6tel de Ville, Ghent, 143-
145. 179-
H6tel de Ville, Louvain, 305,
307-309.
Janssens, 160, 255.
Jewish Synagogue, Brussels,
287.
Joest, J., 242.
Jordaens, 249-251, 379, 380,
389, 405, 412.
King's Palace, Brussels, 288,
301.
Lace, Museum of, 108.
Laeken, 303.
Lambert, Lombard (see Sus-
terman).
Leerman, 260.
Leys, 394-395, 405-
Liemakere, 146.
Lombard, 236, 237.
London, National Gallery,
268.
Louvain, 304-316, 397.
Lucas, of Leyden, 358, 361,
363, 365-366.
Luttichuys, 260.
Mabuse (see Gossaert, J.).
Maes, Nicholas, Portraits,
260-262, 264.
Mansion, Colard, 52, 95.
Marchd aux Grains, Ghent,
179.
March6 aiix Herbes, Ghent,
149-150, 179-
Marche du Vendredi, Ghent
(see Vrydagmarkt).
Martini, Simone, 363.
Matsys, Quentin, 46, 209-
210, 239-240, 248, 315, 320,
328, 342, 351, 354-357,
360-361, 371-373, 405-
Maubeuge (see Mostart, Jan).
Meert, P., 253.
Memlinc (see Memling).
Memling, Hans, 29, 30, 45,
52, 74-75, 80-88, 91, 105,
120, 123, 209, 215, 224,
230-232, 352, 358, 364-
365, 371-
Messina, Antonello da, 351-
352, 358.
Metsu, 264.
Miracle of the Hosts (see
Cathedral, The, of Brus-
sels).
Modem Picture Gallery, The,
Brussels, 285-286.
Molyn the Elder, 263.
Moore, Sir Anthony, 243, 246,
248.
Moretus, John (see Cathe-
dral, The, of Antwerp).
Mostaert, Giles, the Elder,
373-
Mostaert, Jan, 112-113, 115,
"7, 353, 355-
Mostart, 242.
Municipal Council Room
(Ghent), 151.
Murillo, 377.
Mus^e Plantin-Moretus, Ant-
werp, 335, 399-402.
Musee Wiertz, Brussels, 293.
Museum, of Antwerp, 209.
Museum of Painting, Ghent,
186-190.
My tens, 393.
Nieuwenhoven, Martin Van
(see Memling, Hems).
Index.
423
Notre Dame de la Chapelle,
ChiiTch of, Brussels, 295-6.
Notre-Dame de St. Pierre,
Church of, Ghent, 186.
Notre-Dame, Church of,
Bruges, 108-116.
Notre Dame des Victoires,
Church of Brussels, 287,
297, 298.
Old Citadel, Antwerp, 396,
416.
Orley, B. Van, 116.
Palais de Justice, Brussels,
284, 287.
Palais de Justice, Ghent, 154,
179.
Palais des Academies, Brus-
sels, 291.
Palais des Beaux Arts (see
Picture Gallery, The, of
Brussels).
Palais de Nidi, Brussels, 205.
Palamedes, 263.
Patinier, 222, 224, 237, 362.
Patinir (see Patinier).
Fepyn, 335.
Perugino, 268.-
Picture Gallery, The, of Ant-
werp, 341-395.
Picture Gallery, The, of
Brussels, 208-269.
Place d'Anneessens, Brussels,
205.
Place d'Armes, Ghent, 140-
147, IS4, 179, 180.
Place de la Chapelle, Brus-
sels, 295.
Place de la Commune, Ant-
werp, 406.
Place de la Monnaie, 207.
Place des Martyrs, Brussels,
206.
Place du Beguinage, Brussels,
205.
Place du Bourg, Bruges, 52,
59-73-
Place du Congress, Brussels,
289-290.
Place du Petit Sabloa, Brus-
sels, 287.
Place du Tr6ne, Brussels, 291.
Place Fontainas, Brussels,
205.
Place Rouppe, Brussels, 205,
207.
Place Royale, Brussels, 196,
210, 284-289, 291, 299.
Place St. Gery, Brussels, 197,
204.
Place St. Jean, Brussels, 293.
Place Ste. Pharailde, Ghent
(see Marche aux Herbes).
Place Teniers, 406.
Place Verte, Antwerp, 324,
326, 327, 329, 397, 402.
Porte de Hal, Brussels, 291-
292.
Potter, Paul, 265.
Pourbus, F., 105, 161, 187.
Pourbus, Peter, 104, 110-113,
IIS, 131, 132, 243, 245,342,
368, 369, 374.
Pr6vost, J., 129-130.
Qiiellin, Arthxjs, 102, 150, 237,
403.
Rabot Gate, The, Ghent, 180.
Rembrandt, 46, 265, 392.
Rheims, Archbishop of (see
St. Donatian).
Rijng, 377.
424
Index.
Robbia, Luca Delia, ii8.
Rockox (see Rubens).
Romano, Giulio, 367.
Rombouts, 160, 189.
Royal Museum and Library,
Brussels, 285.
Rubens, 40, 46, 104, 146, 147,
156, 160, 176-177, 188-
190, 210, 217, 249-259,
267, 320, 321, 327, 331-336,
339, 347, 377-378, 380, 382-
390, 393, 401, 403, 412, 415-
417.
Ruysdael, Jacob, 261, 262,
394-
Schoreel, 125, 3S4-35S-
Schut, 380-381.
Seghers, 115, 377.
Sienese School (see Martini,
Simone).
Snyders, 249, 252, 255, 379.
Sorel, Agnes (see Fouquet).
Spurs, Battle of the, 27, 55,
134-
Square Marie-Louise, Brus-
sels, 293.
St. Bavon, Monastery of, 156,
160, 181-185, 192.
St. Catherine, Church of,
Brussels, 205.
St. Donatian, Archbishop of
Rheims, 53, 54, 71, loi,
107, 120.
St. Gudula, 196, 246, 270, 271,
273, 281.
St. Jacques, Church of, Ant-
werp, 407-414-
St. Jacques, Church of,
Bruges, 116-119, 153, 179.
St. Jacques sur Caudenberg,
Church of, Brussels, 284.
St. John, Hospital of, Bruges,
52, 73, 75-78, 80-83, 98.
Ste. Marie de Schaerbeck,
Church of, Brussels, 288,
290, 291.
St. Michael, the Archangel,
196, 199, 270, 273.
St. Michel, Church of, Ghent,
147-148, 179, 180.
St. Nicholas, Church of, Brus-
sels, 203, 204.
St. Nicholas, Church of,
Ghent, 145-147, 179, 180.
St. Paul, Church of, Antwerp,
404, 414-416.
St. Pierre, Church of, Lou-
vain, 309-316.
St. Salvator, Cathedral of,
Bruges, 101-108.
Steen, Jan, 262, 264, 266, 393,
Stolen Hosts (see Miracle of
the Hosts) .
Susterman, 350.
Swan, House of the (see
Grand' Place, Brussels).
Teniers, 252, 253, 406.
Teniers the Younger, 377.
Terburg, 392.
Theodoric, Count of Flanders,
28, 61-62, 67.
Tintoretto, 268.
Titian, 374-375-
Toumay, Cathedral of, 416.
Universit6 Libre, The, of
Brussels, 295.
Van Alsloot, 246, 247.
Van Artevelde, Jacob, 27,
135-137, 149, 152, IS3-
Van Balen, 411.
Index.
425
Van Beyeren, 263.
Van Bree, 337.
Van Cortbemde, 389.
Van Delen, 262.
Van den Broeck, 349.
Van der Cap>elle, 265, 393.
Van der Goes, 118, 222-223,
245-
Van der Heist, 46, 260, 262,
264, 393-
Van der Meire, Gerard, 161.
349-351, 356.
Van der Neer, 263,
Van der Velde, Jr., 260, 392,
393-
Van der Weyden, Roger, 29,
74, 113, 209, 215-226, 231-
232, 3oS» 311-312, 333,
338. 342, 352, 357, 359-
360.
Van der Weyer, Sylvain, 306.
Van Diepenbeeck, 253.
Van Dyck, 147, 217, 253-
254, 346, 378-382, 387, 391,
409, 416.
Van Eyck, Jan, 18, 29, 30, 45,
52, 7i> 74, 120-123, 131.
156-158, 162-163, 209, 232-
233, 342, 352, 358, 361-362.
Van Eyck, Hubert, 18, 2q,
30, 45, 156-158, 162-168,
209, 212-213, 218, 226, 342.
Van Ghent, Justus, 358.
Van Heemskerk, 187.
Van Hemessen, 242, 351.
Van Hoeck, 389.
Van Huysum, 392.
Van Mieris, W., 261-392, 393.
Van Mol, 377.
Van Orley, Bernard, 209,
218-219, 237, 238, 246-
248, 278, 342, 349, 364,
369-370, 413.
Van Ostade, A., 262, 393.
Van Ostade, Isaac, 260.
Van Ravestein, Portrait, 260.
Van Ruysdael, S., 266.
Van Thulden, 249, 390.
Van Utrecht, A., 253.
Van Veen, Otto, 255, 343,
387-388.
Vandermeulen, 252.
Vannuchi, 268.
Verbruggen, 178.
Veronese, Paolo, 268, 367.
Vinck, 330.
Volterra, Daniele da, 333.
Vrydagmarkt, Ghent, 151-
153, 179-
Waterloo, Battlefield of, 304.
Weenix, Jan, 263, 264, 393.
Wouwerman, 260, 262.
Wynants, 263, 392.
Zeghers, 189.
Zoological Garden, Antwerp,
405.
5^ ^uiTPN REGIONAL UBRARY FAOLfry
A 000 596 578 5