In the “Buire” (Plate [XLVI]) by Mosyn, however, this style is seen in its most exaggerated form. This design is by M. Mosyn, an engraver, born at Amsterdam about 1630. His chandeliers are equally extravagant. Peter Nolpe, born at the Hague (1601–70), was another designer of this school, as was also John Lutma of Amsterdam (1609–89). The latter represents the very decadence of art, with his hideous cartouches, compartments, frames and aiguières, composed of distorted and tortured ears. Another master of Amsterdam who published many plates in the same extraordinary taste was Gerbrandt van der Eeckhout. He also worked in the middle of this century. This style attained its greatest vogue in Germany. There Friederich Unteutsch, a master carpenter of Frankfort, published (1650) 110 plates of all kinds of furniture, on which the ear is prominent as an ornament. Daniel Rabel (d. 1637), also used the genre auriculaire in France, but there its life was short and feeble.
CHAPTER VI
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (DUTCH)
Famous Dutch Architects—The Royal Palace on the Dam, Het Loo, the Mauritshuis and Huis ten Bosch—Interior Carvings—Specimens of Rooms and Ceilings in the Rijks Museum—Love of the Dutch for their Houses—Miniature Dutch Houses and Models of Old Amsterdam Houses in the Rijks Museum—Architecture of the Seventeenth Century—A Typical Dutch Home—The Luifel, Voorhuis and Comptoir—Interior Decorations and Furniture—Dutch Mania for Cleaning—Descriptions by Travellers of Dutch Houses and Cleaning—Cleaning Utensils—House and Furniture of Andreas Hulstman Janz, in Dordrecht—Inventory of Gertrude van Mierevelt, wife of the painter, in Delft—“Show-rooms” and their Furnishings—Cooking Utensils—Bedroom in the House of Mrs. Lidia van der Dussen in Dordrecht—The Cradle and “Fire-Basket”—The Baby’s Silver—The “Bride’s Basket”—The “Bride’s Crown” and “Throne”—Decorations for a Wedding—Description by Sir John Lower of the Farewell Entertainment to Charles II at The Hague.
The most important architects of this period were Hendrik de Keyser (1565–1621), Jacob van Kampen (1598–1657), and Philip Vinckboons (1608–75).
The Royal Palace on the Dam, Amsterdam, was built by Jacob van Kampen for a Town Hall; it was begun in 1648 and finished in 1655. It is interesting to note that the structure rests on a foundation of 13,659 piles. The gables are ornamented with allegorical reliefs by Artus Quellin the Elder (see page [137]), representing the glories of Amsterdam. Artus Quellin and his assistants also adorned the interior with carvings and sculptures in marble. There are also in the various rooms elaborately carved chimney-pieces, some of them with painted overmantels by Jan Lievens, Ferd. Bol, and N. de Helt-Stocade (1656). The ceilings were painted by J. G. Bronchorst, Cornelis Holsteyn and others. This was not used as a palace until the time of Louis Napoleon in 1808.
Het Loo, near Apeldoorn, the favourite residence of William I, William III and the reigning Queen Wilhelmina, received additions during this period; and the Royal Palace at The Hague was also built in the time of William III.
The Mauritshuis, on the Vyver (now the home of the famous Hague picture gallery), was erected in 1633–44, for Count John Maurice of Nassau, the Dutch West India Company’s Governor of Brazil, who died in 1679. The architects were Jacob van Kampen and Pieter Post. This house was rebuilt in 1704–18, after a fire.
These two architects were also responsible for the Huis ten Bosch (House in the Wood), the royal villa near The Hague, built about 1645 for the Princess Amalia of Solms, widow of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange (1625–47). The wings were added by William IV in 1748, and many of the decorations are of the eighteenth century. The famous apartments are: the Chinese Room, the Japanese Room, and the Orange Saloon, in which the Peace Conference met in 1899.
Plate XXXIV.—Chairs.
RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM.