The wars and troubles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries very nearly extinguished the art industries of Tournai, the number of master-weavers of tapestries declining from two hundred and fourteen between 1538 and 1553 to forty in 1693, and twenty-nine in 1738. It was only a few years after the last date, however, when a new art industry became established in the city. In 1751 a native of Lille, named François Péterink, began the manufacture at Tournai of fine porcelains. Dinner sets elaborately decorated and daintily formed, vases, statues and statuettes of “biscuit” equal to the finest products of Sèvres, Saxony or England, were turned out in considerable quantities for more than a century, and the porcelains of Tournai became so renowned that princes vied with one another to secure these works of art. It is still possible for the collector to secure some of these fine products, the trademarks being a rude castle tower or two crossed swords with tiny crosses at their intersecting angles. In the finest tableware these are usually in gold, but red or some other colour should not be despised, as the genuine Tournai ware is becoming rare and already brings high prices. These marks, it should be added, have been imitated, and the amateur will do well to consult expert advice before purchasing.
Still another noteworthy art industry of Tournai merits at least a word in passing. From the very earliest period after the art of making stained or painted glass was invented the ateliers of the “Ville d’Art” have excelled in this fine branch of handicraft. During the fifteenth century Tournaisian artists made the seven stained glass windows in the transept of the cathedral that depict in glowing colours the history of the contest between Childeric and Sigebert and the donations and privileges granted to the bishop and the cathedral by Chilperic. Not only are these scenes of the utmost interest historically, but the student of costumes and customs during the Middle Ages and the student of early Flemish art will both find in them abundant material for study. It has already been said that the cathedral of Tournai is in itself a history of Flemish architecture covering a period of well-nigh a thousand years. It is also a veritable museum of Flemish art, and especially of Tournaisian art, in almost all of its many branches.
In the eighteenth century the apparently inextinguishable artistic spirit of Tournai found expression in the production of carpets that recalled the best period of its tapestry weavers. The carpet in the cabinet of Napoleon at Fontainebleau and the celebrated carpet of the Legion of Honour, which was shown in the French pavilion at the recent exposition at Turin, were made at Tournai during this period. At the same epoch the goldsmiths and coppersmiths, whose activities had never entirely ceased during the centuries of trouble, began once more to turn out their artistic products in considerable quantities, nor have these ateliers entirely ceased operations at Tournai to this day. Truly the name “Ville d’Art” has been fairly won and kept by this little city, if seven centuries of almost uninterrupted artistic endeavour and achievement count for anything!
It is a somewhat remarkable feature of modern Belgium, however, that while its cities abound in beautiful and artistic things, the common people—both the working classes and the bourgeoisie, or fairly prosperous middle-class of small merchants and manufacturers—seem to have very little interest in pictures or works of art, and little or no desire to acquire them. The average Belgian home is utterly bare of ornament, save perhaps a crucifix or a religious image or chromo—if these can be termed ornamental. Reproductions of the fine masterpieces of painting and statuary in which this little country is so rich are incredibly scarce and difficult to procure—save only the very famous pictures, of which copies have been made to sell to tourists in the larger cities. Even these the native Belgian apparently never buys, and the art stores carry very few coloured prints of moderate price such as are to be seen everywhere in the United States. In fact, of those we saw a considerable proportion were of American manufacture. Of course these remarks do not allude to the stores handling original paintings by ancient and modern masters, costly water-colours and etchings. These are purchased in Belgium, as everywhere else, by the wealthy class, whose homes are as rich and artistic as any in the world. It is the absence of interest by the two classes first mentioned that seems to me so remarkable in a country that for centuries has been passionately devoted to art in all its manifestations, and, for its population and area, is without doubt the world’s largest producer of beautiful things.
On the other hand, the Belgian of even the humblest social standing is invariably fond of flowers. In the cities every woman on her way to or from market buys a bouquet for the table, while in the country there is no garden without its little flower-bed, or flower-bordered paths, or rambling rosebushes climbing up the high brick garden wall or arching over the entrance. This shows an intense and inborn love of the beautiful. Why is it, then, that men and women whose daily lives are spent in creating beautiful things—rare lace, fine wood-carvings, rich brass or copper ware—are content with homes that are as bare of ornament as any prison cell?
[CHAPTER XIV]
THE FALL OF CHARLES THE BOLD—MEMLING AT BRUGES
There are few careers in history more fascinating, more spectacular, more dramatic, than that of the last Duke of Burgundy who ruled over Flanders—Charles the Bold. Heir to dominions that included all of what is now Belgium and Holland, nearly a third of France, and portions of what is now Germany, Charles was by far the most powerful of the feudal lords of his day, surpassing the King of France, and even the Emperor in the splendour and wealth of his court and in the number of feudal princes and knights whom he could summon to his standard. He not only had dreams of becoming a king himself, but was, on one occasion, offered a crown—the Emperor Frederick III proposing to make him King of Brabant. This he refused—a serious error, for he could easily have extended his royal title, once legally acquired, over the rest of his dominions.