Plate XVI.—Glass Cupboard, or Vitrine, by De Vries.
Porcelain as yet was very rare, though kings and rich nobles had a few pieces of this ware on their shelves. Philip II had quite a respectable collection of ceramics, and wealthy Flemings were always fond of foreign and domestic wares of this nature. Palissy was at work and his productions were highly prized. The Netherlands had a brisk trade by sea with Portugal, and through Lisbon considerable quantities of porcelain were finding their way into the cupboards of the wealthy. Venetian glass also was highly prized, so that we are not astonished to find De Vries devoting a good deal of attention to designing vitrines, or small cupboards with glass fronts, for the preservation and safe display of glass, china and earthenware. In many instances, these were elaborately carved with all the Renaissance ornamentation. Four handsome glass cupboards or vitrines, designed by De Vries, are shown in Plate [XVI] and Plate [XVII]. In the centre of the broken pediments, we see Bacchus and Cupid. The supporting sides consist of Classic columns, pilasters or caryatides; and all the decoration is in harmony with the rest of the furniture of this period.
On looking over the pictures by the great artists of the Netherlands, we cannot help noticing their delight in painting glass. The play of light and shade, and direct and reflected rays in flasks, bottles, vases, goblets and wine glasses of varied form strongly appealed to the great masters of genre and still life.
The Flemings of the sixteenth century undoubtedly manufactured much glass for home consumption and export. England took all they and Germany and France could supply. Queen Elizabeth tried to attract glass-blowers to settle in her realm. The first recorded name to accept the invitation is that of Cornelius de Launoy. In 1567, the Queen sent to the Low Countries for Jean Quarré, a native of Antwerp, and other workers in glass, to establish a factory for making the same kind of glass as existed in France.
The windows not only of churches but of civic and palatial buildings were beautified with the work of great artists. Even in more modest dwellings, the windows of the hall, studio, or living-room were decorated with the coat-of-arms of the owner.
Designs for painted windows formed by no means an unimportant part of the activities of a great artist; in fact, they held the same rank as cartoons for tapestry. In 1567, Guicciardini notes as follows:
“But it is also proper to mention some eminent artists in encaustic or painting on glass, inasmuch as this department has also its pretensions to importance; and Vasari has observed that the Flemings have brought it to perfection. For, not to dwell on the beauty and vivacity of the colours, they invented the mode of burning them into the glass, so as to be safe from the corrosion of water, wind and even time; which was not the case when they were only tempered with gum and some other mixture. And the Flemings also invented the manner of making leaden casements.
“The first eminent painters on glass were Arnold van Hordt of Nymwegen, and a citizen of Antwerp, a great imitator of the Italian school and the first inventor of the art of burning colours into crystalline glass. Theodore Jacobs Felaet, an artist of eminent invention; Theodore Stass of Campen; John Ack of Antwerp, who executed the windows in St. Gudule’s Church and the Chapel of the Sacrament at Brussels; Cornelis of Bois-le-Duc.
