In 1579 Imbize again led the inhabitants in revolt, and incited them to attack and plunder the Catholics. William of Orange successfully stemmed the conflict for a time, but Imbize put himself at the head of a regiment, and actually arrested the magistrates of the city and other dignitaries, and established a board of rulers. William the Silent again intervened. He came to Ghent, reprimanded the riotous burghers, and had Imbize brought before him. With his customary clemency, the prince pardoned the young man, after chiding him for his intolerance and folly.
We read again of the fanatical Puritan, Imbize, in 1584, when he allied himself with the Catholic party, and plotted against his country. His scheme was, however, discovered; he was charged with treason, and brought to the gallows.
Ghent was early a stronghold of powerful trade guilds, and one of the meeting-places of these unions was in the Market Square. These organisations of craftsmen were probably established first by the Flemish weavers to protect the woollen industry. All over Europe the guilds were instituted by artisans working in walled towns during the Middle Ages. Chaucer mentions them in England in his day. The guilds had their masters or wardens, who exercised an almost despotic sway over the members, and watched their interests zealously. The election of the wardens was made a pompous ceremony, accompanied by a religious service which was attended by the mayor and corporation, and followed by a banquet. No doubt the Market Square of Ghent saw many of these ceremonies in days of old.
The power of the merchants and manufacturers of Ghent was great in the time of the city’s affluence. We gain an idea of their sumptuous houses and their costly apparel from many paintings of the Dutch School. Often the merchant was wealthier than the feudal baron, and kings were known to borrow from them.
Jacques Van Artevelde, “the brewer” of Ghent, was an important burgher in his day, though he was not, strictly speaking, a brewer, but a patrician who joined the Brewer’s Guild, and headed a riotous faction against a rival guild. A fierce fight broke out in the square, and several hundreds of the combatants were slain. Van Artevelde was a staunch friend of Edward III. of England. He was killed by the populace for plotting to make Edward ruler of Flanders.
Such, briefly, are some of the main historical events of this old town of martial and industrial renown. Let us now inspect some of the works of art preserved in the Cathedral of St Bavon. Perhaps the masterpiece here is “The Adoration of the Lamb,” the marvellous altar-picture painted by Jan and Hubert Van Eyck. The colour is glowing, though the picture was painted in 1432. The Lamb is attended by angels, and worshipped by a company of the devout. There are hundreds of heads in the composition, which has several compartments. The landscape is exquisitely rendered, both in the effect of distance and in the flowers of the foreground. Parts of the altarpiece are elsewhere, in Berlin and Brussels, and the whole was carried away by the French, only a portion being restored. Portraits of the brothers Van Eyck are among the Just Judges in the picture.
Among other paintings in the cathedral are works of Roose, Jansen, Porbus, and a Rubens, highly praised by Sir Joshua Reynolds. There are several monuments, notably the statue of St Bavon by Verbruggen, and the effigies of bishops of Ghent. In the crypt is the tomb of Hubert Van Eyck.
In the Academy the pictures chiefly claiming inspection are “St Francis,” by Rubens, some works by Grayer, and Jordaen’s “Woman taken in Adultery.”
St Michael’s Church contains a painting by Vandyk, “The Crucifixion,” which is in poor preservation, and several modern pictures by Flemish artists.
The Hotel de Ville and the University of Ghent are both fine buildings; the first has highly decorated frontages on two sides, that on the north showing the greater wealth of detail and ornament. A more modern, but very noble, structure is the university, containing a museum and library.