At this period, the Low Countries bowed to no foreign authority in the art domain except the Italian. It must be borne in mind that Charles was a prince of the House of Burgundy, who had been brought up by his aunt, the daughter of the heiress of Burgundy, and the Emperor of Austria. He was a Fleming by birth and training. He was born at Ghent in 1500, and spent the first sixteen years of his life in the Netherlands. His pride in his natal town is well known. It is recorded in his famous pun—that he could put the whole of Paris in his Gant (glove). Spanish influence, therefore, did not affect the studios and workshops of the Flemish hives of industry till late in the century; for when Charles went to Spain, his train was full of Flemings, who influenced Spanish art; but we find no return influx of Spaniards to modify Flemish art. The splendid traditions of the Court of Burgundy still dominated in the Low Countries; and its unbending formality survives in Spain to-day. When Philip II joined his father Charles V in Brussels in 1548, his natural inclination led him readily to adopt the multitudinous equipage and minute and pompous etiquette of his Burgundian ancestors; all this he retained and transmitted to his descendants. Till the end of the century, the Flemish Renaissance was a domestic development of purely Italian inspiration. The principal things that the Netherlands obtained from the Iberian peninsula were ornamental leather and Oriental wares, through Lisbon.
The Renaissance gave a great impetus to gilded leathers, the manufacture of which was still flourishing at Cordova and increasing in the Netherlands. It would seem that workmen emigrated from Spain to other countries. Tomaso Gazoni in his Piazza universale (1560) writes regarding gilded leather: “Some people think that the origin of this noble work is due to Spain, because from that country come the best masters of modern times who have obtained the greatest renown in this kind of work.” A native of Cordova, Ambrosio Morales, writing in 1575, says: “This manufacture brings much wealth to the town, and also gives a fine appearance to its principal streets. In truth, when these stamped, painted and gilded leathers are spread out on large tables to dry in the sun they make a beautiful sight, for the streets are adorned with the greatest splendour and variety.”
The inventories of the period show us how important was the use of leather. Margaret of Austria has at Mechlin in 1527 several pieces of “tapisserie de marroquin,” as we have noted.
The gilded leather was often called or bazané and regarded as a mark of opulence. For instance, Pierre Binard, a tapestry-worker and author of a collection of Noëls, dedicated to Marguerite, wife of Henri IV, says in one of his verses:
Au moins est-elle bien coëffée
De fins rézeaux?
Et sa couche est-elle estoffée
De beaux rideaux?
Son ciel n’est-il pas de brodeure
Tout campané?