Wills and inventories are invaluable aids to the student of Dutch furniture; but even more illuminating are the interiors painted by the Great and Little Masters—Jan Steen, Metsu, Cocques, Teniers, Rembrandt, Terburg, Don Weenix, Hoogstraten, Koedyck and a host of others. These are valuable as showing not only individual pieces of furniture, but also the general arrangement of rooms.
Plate [XXVI], representing The Sick Woman, by Jan Steen, in the Rijks Museum, shows a very simple room with bare floor and bare walls. At the back of the room is an upholstered bed with long straight curtains, and tester ornamented with fringe and surmounted with “pommes.” On the wall hang a lute and a Frisian clock. The back of the chair is carved with lions’ heads above the arms. The table is covered with a handsome “carpet.”
Plate XXXVII.—The Sick Lady, by Hoogstraten.
RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM.
A similar bed stands in the right hand corner of the room, represented in Plate [XXXVII], also the picture of a Sick Lady, by S. van Hoogstraten. The arrangement of this room is extremely interesting, as a short flight of seven steps leads into a narrow passage and room above. A round window hung with a curtain lights the passage-way above, which contains a number of fine paintings and a low-backed chair with spirally turned legs, the back and seat covered with velvet put on with large-headed nails. A door leads into the room beyond, but all that we can see of this is a marble mantelpiece with a handsome painting above it, and heavy andirons. A large square armchair with spirally turned legs stands on the left of the bed. The invalid is seated on a common stiff chair of no decorative interest.
The obvious upper room was always a favourite feature of the houses in the Low Countries. An interior balcony is shown in Plate [XXXVIII]. This interior, painted by J. Koedyck about 1650, now in Brussels, is very interesting. The ceiling is unusually high, and consists of heavy beams; the windows are flush with the outside wall with deep interior recesses, and beneath them is a long wooden bench rudely carved. The old woman seated in a plain, two-backed, rush-bottomed chair seems to be dusting the legs of a spinet. Another two-backed chair stands in front of the bed, which from the positions of its pillows looks as if it might consist of an upper and lower berth, as was and still is often the case in the simpler homes in the Netherlands. Straight curtains hang from the cornice, a warming-pan is seen on the right, while above the cornice of the bed a child looks out of the shutters in the upper gallery. The chimney-piece is without the usual funnel-shaped top, and is also lacking in flat architectural ornamentation or a large painting. A candlestick and a few plates are the sole ornaments. It is carved with caryatids, however, and furnished with a chimney-cloth. Near the only caryatid visible stands what seems to be a metal “blower”; but there is probably no fire in the hearth, for the cat has found what she considers the most comfortable spot in the room on the foot-warmer. The most interesting piece of furniture in the room is the high-backed settle in the space between the fireplace and the window. This is panelled, and a little decoration occurs below the arms. Of course, the seat lifts up, and the box is used as a receptacle for articles.
Plate [XXVII], one of Jan Steen’s famous interiors, from the Rijks Museum, has several interesting features: the architectural door and the high chimney-piece with stove being the most curious. The bed is dome-shaped and upholstered. A good type of chair stands in the foreground, and a table, on which is a cloth with deep fringe. A beautifully painted birdcage hangs from the ceiling.
Plate XXXVIII.—Interior, by J. Koedyck, Brussels.
Plate [XXXVI], known as the Oyster Feast, by Jan Steen, in The Hague, shows an interesting room, which serves as hall, dining-room and kitchen. A large curtain is looped over the balustrade, which runs midway across the hall. This gallery leads from one of the upper sleeping apartments to another. One large window, with four panes, supplies the light. To the left of it is a bed, and next to it a mantelpiece with marble columns. Near this a parrot is sitting in a ring. Next comes the fireplace, where the oysters are being cooked. Waffle-irons lean up against the handsome chair in the foreground. Beneath the window a jovial man sits in a low-backed chair, near the group playing tric-trac on the long table, over which hangs a landscape in a handsome frame. Another table with a rich carpet is placed on the extreme right, at which two persons are enjoying their oysters. A clock hangs on the wall, and also a lute and birdcages. A large birdcage, similar to the one in Plate [XXVII], hangs before the window. A dog, a kitten and playful children add a merry touch to the scene.