In pictures of homely Flemish life David Teniers, who belongs to the next generation of Antwerp artists, achieved a fame that places him in a sense in a class by himself, for none of the earlier masters surpassed him in his particular field. He, too, was prolific—one catalogue enumerating no less than six hundred and eighty-five of his works. Of the same genre is the work of Adrian Brauwer, whose early death prevented him from leaving so great a legacy to posterity. Besides these masters of the first rank, Antwerp boasts an almost innumerable throng of minor artists—pupils of Rubens, Van Dyck and their successors—much of whose work is of excellent merit. Any half-dozen of these would have rendered another city notable in the history of art, but here their achievements are lost as are the heroic deeds of the private soldiers in a great army. The mind cannot retain so many names, cannot appraise and classify so bewildering a mass of productions.
For this reason the tourist who is a philosopher will not regard too seriously the dicta of the learned as to which of these lesser paintings is or is not of the first rank in the order of merit. What of it if the guidebook does not indicate by its little stars that this is a picture for one to go into raptures over, if the sacristan or guide passes it coldly by? If it appeals to us by all means let us pause and admire it, let us study it, find out about it, learn something of its history and that of the unknown artist who painted it. Indeed, if on such closer inspection it still appeals to us, let us buy it if we can—but at all events let us enjoy it to the utmost, for of such joys Flanders is full. In out of the way corners everywhere one can find genre pictures like those of Tenier, brilliantly coloured groups suggestive of Rubens, scenes of bucolic feasting in imitation of Jordaens. And here and there, who knows, perhaps one may yet discover an original by one of these greater artists or their rare predecessors, and retire on the proceeds! Who knows?
The visitor to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts at Antwerp should not leave without devoting at least a day to the modern paintings. To an American, accustomed to museums where long walls filled with dreary mediocrities are illuminated only at rare intervals with something altogether fine and satisfactory, these modern galleries are a treat. Picture after picture, room after room—all are beautiful and worthy, many are splendid. The collection of modern paintings is not large as European galleries go, some five hundred and fifty altogether, but the general average of quality is exceptionally high—much superior in this respect it seemed to us than the far larger collection at Brussels, though it is not so regarded by the critics. The interiors of Henri de Braekeleer, and his charming Nursery Garden, for example, what could be finer? The “Ancient Fishmarket” at Antwerp by Frans Bossuet, a native of Ypres; the “Lull before the Storm,” by P. J. Clays, of Bruges, one of whose paintings is in the Metropolitan Museum at New York—all these are notable. So are the historical pictures of Baron Leys, Guffens, Louis Gallait and Charles Verlat—but the list is too long. These pictures are not to be described, they must be seen. Individually the savants may quarrel as to their merits, but, taking them all together, these paintings—for the most part by Flemish artists—prove that the great traditions of Rubens and Van Dyck, Jordaens and Teniers, have not been forgotten in their native land and that modern Flemish art is a worthy successor to the greatness of the past.
The lover of the beautiful has yet another treat in store for him when he visits the famous old Hotel de Ville. It had hardly been completed, in 1565, by Cornelis de Vriendt when it was partially destroyed during the Spanish Fury. Rebuilt a few years later in its present form, it contains some of the most beautiful rooms to be seen in all Europe. The vestibule and grand staircase are richly decorated with coloured marble, while imposing frescoes depict the zenith of Antwerp’s commercial and artistic splendour. The great reception-room is decorated with four superb historical frescoes by Baron Leys, while the exquisite Salle des Mariages is completely surrounded with allegorical paintings portraying the history of the marriage ceremony by Lagye, a pupil of Leys. In the rooms of this edifice the history of the famous old city lives again, while in its splendid fireplaces and minor decorations one can see examples of every branch of Flemish art.
HOTEL DE VILLE, ANTWERP.
While the Hotel de Ville is most gratifying to the eye and the imagination, it is not, however, intimately associated with many important events in the history of the city. Albert and Isabella, while they ruled, were virtually independent sovereigns, but on the death of Albert without issue, in 1621, the country reverted to Spain. Thereafter, for more than two centuries, the city, together with Flanders, Brabant and the other loyal provinces of the Netherlands, became the football of European politics, and Belgium received its sinister name of “the cockpit of Europe.” The people, as a whole, took little interest in the great wars of the Spanish and of the Austrian Successions that were fought largely to decide who should rule over them, since there seemed no likelihood of their in any event ever being able again to rule over themselves. Marlborough, after his great victory at Ramillies, occupied the city with English troops in 1706, and in 1715 the Hotel de Ville was the scene of the signing of the treaty that ended the war. By this treaty the Spanish Netherlands were ceded to Austria, becoming subject to the Emperor Charles VI. Thirty years later the French victory at Fontenoy made them masters of the city, and Louis XV had a joyous entry the following year. Two years later, in 1748, the country was handed back to Austria and Charles made a joyous entry in turn, the people apparently welcoming any change of government with complete impartiality. The Empress Maria Theresa was popular in her Netherlands dominions, but her son Joseph II made Austrian rule so odious that there was a revolt, and in 1790 Antwerp was taken by the patriot army, to the immense joy of its citizens. The Austrians soon crushed the revolution and reoccupied the city, but the great victory of the French republicans, under Dumouriez, at Jemappes destroyed the power of Austria in the Netherlands, and in 1792 the army of the sans-culottes entered Antwerp. The defeat of Dumouriez at Neerwinden resulted in the Imperial forces again occupying the city in 1793, but the French victory at Fleurus the following year turned the tables again and Antwerp once more became subject to the republic.
All these years the Scheldt had been firmly closed, Joseph II having made a feeble attempt to free the river, which had collapsed at the first shot from the Dutch forts. In 1795 the free navigation of the river was decreed by the French, and a ship came up and was received in state by the delighted burghers. It is stated that the value of real estate in the city increased tenfold in consequence of this decree. On the other hand, the sans-culottes very nearly rivalled the image-breakers in the vigour with which they destroyed the city’s religious monuments. The cathedral and churches were despoiled, and it was even proposed to tear down the cathedral, because (they said), “it cannot be reckoned a monument of any value except for the lead, iron, copper and timber it contains.” Fortunately Napoleon seized the reins of power at Paris at about this time, and put an end to such nonsense. In 1803 the First Consul visited Antwerp, which—as he afterwards said—was “like a loaded pistol pointed at the heart of England.” Filled with this idea, he systematically sought to revive the commerce of the port and erected great docks there for his war vessels, portions of which still remain. In 1814, after the Emperor’s defeat and abdication, Antwerp, under Gen. Carnot, was the last French stronghold in the Netherlands to yield.
After the second defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo Antwerp succeeded in recovering most of the paintings that had been carried away to France by the republicans in 1794. The treaty that followed the last Napoleonic war gave all of what is at present Belgium to the King of Holland, William I, who favoured Antwerp in many ways. As the Scheldt still remained free the commerce of the port was considerable and prosperity seemed to be returning. In 1830 began the revolution that resulted in the independence of Belgium. One of its first events was the bombardment of the city of Antwerp by the Dutch troops holding the citadel. The following year Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was elected by the National Congress as King of the Belgians under the title of Leopold I. The war with Holland was not yet over, however, and in 1832 the English, French and Belgian troops began a siege of the citadel at Antwerp, which was still in the hands of the Dutch. The fortress had one hundred and forty-three guns, and the besiegers two hundred and twenty-three, and it is stated that sixty-three thousand projectiles were fired against it. The fortress was a mass of ruins before its sturdy defenders capitulated.
From 1832 until 1914 Antwerp and the liberty-loving Flemings of ancient Flanders remained free, happy and increasingly prosperous under the wise and moderate rule of their chosen Kings. Leopold I reigned until his death in 1865, and proved to be one of the wisest monarchs in history. For Antwerp his greatest achievement was the final freeing of the River Scheldt in 1863, after more than ten years of diplomatic negotiations, from the tolls which the Dutch had insisted in levying since 1839. Under his successor, Leopold II, one of the most efficient chief executives it was possible for a nation to have, the fine Belgian public service system was developed and the prosperity of its cities and citizens promoted in every practical way. In the two decades following the freeing of the Scheldt the commerce of the port of Antwerp increased six-fold, while that of its rivals, London and Liverpool, doubled and that of Hamburg and Rotterdam tripled. Since then the business of the port has advanced even faster, and the imposing modern business buildings that now line the Place de Meir, one of the handsomest commercial streets in the world, afford abundant testimony to its prosperity and wealth—as do the fine residences of its merchants to be seen in drives through the outskirts of the city. Under Albert I the wise policies of his predecessors were continued, and the little country was enjoying peace and contentment such as never came to it during the centuries of foreign oppression and tyranny that began with the acquisition of Flanders and Brabant by the Dukes of Burgundy. It is the greatest moral issue in this war whether Belgium, after being free for less than eighty-five years, shall once more pass into the hands of a foreign power. Its people have demonstrated conclusively that under the limited monarchy they have chosen they are capable of governing themselves far better than the best of their self-appointed masters ever did in the bad old days that, they had hoped, had forever passed away.