The bench (banc), often forms part of the woodwork of the wall of a hall in Flanders in the seventeenth century. It was frequently placed between the windows and made luxurious with cushions. Movable benches were often used. In these the backs turned on an axis and were most convenient, as the occupant could arrange the seat in any position he pleased. The benches in De Vries’s “Cubiculum” (Plate [X]), should be compared with the bench against the wall in Plate [XXXVIII] in studying the development of the banc. The high banc, or settle, in this picture is interesting on account of its simplicity.
The general tendency of furniture was a gradual breaking away from immovables, a development from monumental solidity into grace and lightness. The heavy tables of De Vries are cut away, and return in general form to the original board and trestles. A glance at Fig. 8 will show that the workman had only to connect the struts of the trestles in the centre of the table in order to produce a rough model of the richly carved tables in vogue from the period of Henri II to that of Louis XIV. The box form of support, therefore, in this style of table gives way to what we may regard as two trestles connected in the middle by an upright board. These, as well as the edge of the table top, are embellished by beautiful carving. The trestles now consist of eagles, lions, chimaeras, mermaids, satyrs and other human and animal figures; and the central connexion is pierced, balustraded, columned and treated in a thousand different ways. In the seventeenth century, lightness was carried a step further, and the favourite table is simply supported by four turned legs with heavy bulb feet, the legs have connecting rails close to the floor and usually have one or more heavy globular swellings. In England during the Tudor and Jacobean periods, this heavy form was known as the drawing-table. It occurs in numberless interiors by Dutch and Flemish masters. The desire for greater lightness, however, made itself increasingly felt; and early in the seventeenth century we find legs turned in plain spirals, or with beading. Chair frames naturally corresponded with table legs.
Though the masters of Decorative Art were constantly increasing in numbers, it was three-quarters of a century after the appearance of the furniture designs by De Vries before another important work of the same nature was published. This was by another Dutchman. In 1642, Crispin van den Passe published at Amsterdam his “Boutique Menuiserie dans laquelle sont comprins les plus notables fondaments non moins arichesse avecq des nouvelles inventions.”
Of his life little is known, except that he was the son of the great engraver of the same name and was born in Utrecht in 1585. His Boutique Menuiserie contains a series of plates of furniture. It is extremely rare today, but was doubtless in every cabinet-maker’s shop of the period.
The furniture, it will be noticed, is “new.” The book was published two years after the death of Rubens, while the style Rubens was still in its glory. From a study of these plates, together with the engravings of Abraham Bosse, we can obtain a clear vision of an interior, either Flemish or French, during the reign of Louis XIII, for Crispin’s furniture designs were as well known to French as to Flemish workmen. Three of his chairs, two of them folding, are reproduced in Figs. 31, 32, and 33; Fig. 34 also shows a small table by him.
We have already caught a glimpse of Rubens’s home in Antwerp; and now we cannot do better than look at the interior of the other great master in Amsterdam. When that city passed through a great financial crisis in 1653, Rembrandt suffered in company with his fellow-citizens. He had been living like a lord in a splendid dwelling sumptuously furnished and decorated, and surrounded by a multitude of objects of art which he loved to collect—armour, robes, busts, ceramics, engravings, and famous pictures by Italian and native artists, as well as his own productions. To satisfy his creditors, these all came to the hammer in 1656. The inventory gives us a good idea of his home. In the vestibule, there were four Spanish chairs covered with Russia leather, four Spanish chairs with black seats, and one low form of pinewood.
The Antechamber contained an ebony-framed mirror and an ebony stand, a marble basin, a walnut table with a Tournay cover, and seven Spanish chairs covered with green velvet. The “Room behind the Antechamber” was furnished with a gilded frame, a small oak table, four common chairs, a copper cauldron, and a portmanteau. In the “Hall,” there were six chairs with blue seats, a large mirror, an oak table, with an embroidered tablecloth, a bed with blue hangings, two pillows and two covers, a matted chair, a set of fire-irons, and a “sacerdan” wood press, and a “sacerdan” small kas with doors. The “Art Cabinet” contained three East India cups, one East India powder box, one East India “jatte” with a little Chinaman, one East India workbox, two porcelain “casoars,” two porcelain figurines, one Japanese casque, plaster casts, copper and pewter, globes, and seventy natural history specimens. On the floor at the back were a great quantity of shells, marine plants and other curiosities, statues, arms, armour, etc. Here also were many portfolios filled with choice engravings, etchings and drawings, besides one old chest, four chairs with black leather seats, and one pine table. In the “Small Studio,” there are musical instruments and armour (119 pieces), and a great number of casts of hands, arms and heads from nature, and many various kinds of woven materials. The “Large Studio” has in it twenty pieces—halberds, swords, and Indian fans, costumes of an Indian man and woman, cuirasses and trumpets. The “Studio Entry” is decorated with the skins of a lion and lioness, and other furs.
A bedstead stands in the “Little Room.”
The “Small Kitchen” is furnished with a little table, a larder, some old chairs, two cushioned chairs, some pots and pans, and a tin waterpot. Nine white plates and two earthen plates decorate the “Corridor.” Rembrandt owned a good deal of linen; and most of the rooms contained pictures.
No one looking at Rembrandt’s own pictures can fail to appreciate his fondness for dressing himself and his models in feathers, armour and fantastic costumes, which, as we have seen, he kept as properties in his Studio.