A few names of wood-carvers of this period have survived. For example, the Town Hall of Louvain, the ancient capital of Brabant, is a very rich and lovely example of late Gothic work. It even surpasses the famous Town Halls of Brussels, Oudenarde, Ghent and Bruges. This was built by Matthew de Layens between 1447 and 1463. It is very rich in statues of local celebrities, and the supporting corbels are ornamented with almost detached reliefs representing biblical subjects.
The models in wood for the stone-cutters were executed after the designs of De Layens, by John Vander Eycken, Goswin Van der Voeren, Mathew Keldermans and John Roelants in 1448.
In decorative art, the Gothic style is feebly represented by great names that have survived. Most of the glorious work that was done by the Mediaeval carvers has perished, and the names of its producers have perished with it. Two names, of the period immediately before the Renaissance, of men who applied themselves to the composition and engraving of ornaments have survived. Le Maître à la Navette was born at Zwott; and was at work about 1475. Alart du Hameel was a native of Bois-le-Duc; and lived at the close of the fifteenth century.
CHAPTER III
THE RENAISSANCE: PART I
Dawn of the Renaissance—The Transitional Period—Coffers and Bahuts—Court of Margaret of Austria—Perréal’s Style—Margaret’s Tomb by Perréal—Taste of the Regent—Margaret’s Tapestries, Carpets, Table-covers and Cushions—Her Curios—Flemish Tapestries—Cartoons by Bernard Van Orley—William de Pannemaker—English Tapestries—Last Days of the Gothic Style—Guyot de Beaugrant, Lancelot Blondeel and Peter Pourbus—Stalls in the Groote Kerk, Dordrecht—Carvings in Haarlem—Invasion of the Renaissance—Walnut, the Favourite Wood for Furniture and Carving—Versatility of the Artists—the Fleming as Emigrant—the Renaissance in Burgundy—Hugues Sambin—Sebastian Serlio—Peter Coeck of Alost—Pupils of Peter Coeck—Lambert Lombard—Francis Floris, the “Flemish Raphael”—the Craze for Numismatics—Hubert Goltzius—Cabinets of the Sixteenth Century—Italian Furniture—Characteristic Features of Renaissance Furniture—Ornaments: the Arabesque, Pilaster, Cartouche, Cuirs, Banderole and Caryatid—Publications of Decorative Design—Alaert Claes, Lucas van Leyden, Cornelis Bos and Martin van Heemskerck.
As in all other departments of human taste, thought and activity, there is no sudden change in Decorative Art, no swift rupture with old traditions. There is a period of transition, during which one style supplants another almost imperceptibly. Even when one great genius arises, he meets with opposition from the members of the old school; and it takes years for his ideas finally to triumph. Moreover, periods overlap: in one district the old style will persist half a century after the new is firmly established in another. Again, even in the same town, we sometimes find the two streams flowing side by side for some time. This is true of the Renaissance, as of all other styles. We even find that a palace within a space of ten years’ time might be begun in the Gothic and completed in the Renaissance style.
When Charles the Bold received his deathblow on the field of Nancy, a new era was dawning. The arts that had been fostered by the splendid Dukes of Burgundy already felt the impetus of a new movement. It was a period of momentous changes. Printing had already been invented, and designs for title-pages alone were to have a tremendous effect on Decorative Art. America was shortly to be discovered, and before long exotic woods were to end the exclusive sway of walnut and oak. Above all, Italy was to be practically rediscovered by Western Europe. Although many courts benefited by the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, the luxurious Italian states received by far the greater number of skilled artisans who brought with them the traditions of Classic Art. The maritime republics were, moreover, no strangers to the art products of the gorgeous East; and Venice especially then held almost a monopoly of the Levant trade, and distributed Oriental wares to France, Germany, England and the Netherlands.
The days of Feudalism had come to an end: Mediaevalism was dead. Wars of petty piracy and private spite ended almost simultaneously in Western Europe; wars of national competition in trade and bitter wars of religion were to succeed. In England, the Wars of the Roses were extinguished in 1485: the last private battle between the retainers of feudal lords was fought in 1483. In France, Louis XI, after the death of Charles the Bold, had reduced his other great vassals to order. In Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella had expelled the Moors and married their mad daughter, Joanna, to the heir of the Burgundian dominions, the issue of this marriage being Charles V, who was born at Ghent in 1500. In 1494, Charles VIII had crossed the Alps; and in Italy the French were as dazzled by the luxury and magnificence they saw as the Crusaders had been at Byzantium four centuries before. On their return, the Renaissance in France and the Netherlands may be said to have begun to bloom.
Before the opening of the sixteenth century, however, there was a remarkable activity in all the arts; and a coming change can be felt. The spirit of the Gothic and of the Classic style—Christian and Pagan—were already at war. In the Low Countries, this transitional period is noticeable during the last days of the House of Burgundy. Simultaneously, architecture and ornament insensibly underwent modifications, in which we recognize the earliest Renaissance, as it appeared also in France under the reign of Louis XII. Building and furniture have already become Classic in form and general aspect: the antique column becomes a leading feature of decoration, although the pilaster, which offers a convenient flat surface for the carving of arabesques, is often preferred. These arabesques are particularly characteristic of this transitional period. They consist of rather slender and simple branches, allowing considerable spaces of the background to appear; and very frequently they are divided into two symmetrical parts about a strongly accented middle axis. There is little relief and little projection in the composition. The details of ornamentation are taken especially from the floral world; and, if human figures or animals are used, they are attenuated and expressionless, and play an unimportant rôle. Figures of this description appear in Plate [V] that represents a coffer in carved wood in the Flemish style, from the Cluny Museum, Paris. The panel in the centre represents the Annunciation, rudely carved. Pilasters decorated with leaves separate it from two niches that contain figures boldly but crudely carved. Above the Annunciation is a lock of fine workmanship, the flap of which bears the figure of the crowned Virgin, in high relief.
Another typical coffer, or huche, of Flemish workmanship of the sixteenth century appears on Plate [VI]. Here we have three panels separated by caryatides. The subjects of the panels are Christ on the Cross, the Annunciation, and the Adoration of the Infant Jesus. The panels are also decorated with the heads of cherubs.