Transcriber's Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

DUTCH AND FLEMISH FURNITURE

Frontispiece. Bed by Daniel Marot.

DUTCH AND FLEMISH FURNITURE

By

ESTHER SINGLETON

Author of “French and English Furniture,” etc

With numerous illustrations

NEW YORK:

THE McCLURE COMPANY

44–60 EAST TWENTY-THIRD STREET

1907

Butler and Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, France, and London

PREFACE

No special inducement need be held out to an educated Englishman at the present day to take an interest in a particular field of the arts and crafts of the Low Countries. Long before the nobles of Flanders, France and England were associated in attempts to free the holy places from the pollution of infidel possession, the dwellers on the opposite coasts of England, Normandy and the Netherlands had been bound together by many dynastic and trade bonds. As we follow the course of history, we find that the interests of the English and the Flemings were inextricably connected; and there was a constant stream of the manufactures of the Low Countries pouring into English ports. The English supplied much of the raw material upon which the Flemings depended for subsistence. In mediaeval days the inhabitants of the Low Countries could always be forced by English statecraft to help the Plantagenet kings in their continental intrigues by the mere cutting off of the supply of wool. Later, the community of tastes and interests in Reformation days drew the races closer together; and all through Elizabethan days, and then onwards till the close of the Marlborough campaigns, the inhabitants of England and the Netherlands were on terms of intimate acquaintance, socially and industrially.

In the following pages, therefore, constant evidence will appear of the influence of the arts and crafts of the Low Countries on English manufactures and importations. Trade rivalry frequently gave rise to coolness between England and Holland, and to an inglorious war in the days of the Merry Monarch. The latter period I have treated at considerable length on account of the importance of the Oriental trade on the interior decorations of Dutch homes.

On taking a general survey of the Decorative Arts of the Low Countries, we notice several well-defined periods and influences.

Materials are too meagre for us to learn much about domestic interiors during the Dark Ages, but we know that, in common with England and Northern France, Scandinavian Art largely prevailed.

The feudal lords of the territories that now formed the Netherlands were enthusiastic in assuming the cross; and for two centuries the arts and crafts of Byzantium and the luxury of the East dominated Western Europe.

About 1300 the influence of Byzantium had waned, and the Gothic style was bursting into full bloom. For the next two centuries it held full sway, and was then pushed aside by the Renaissance, which made itself felt at the end of the fifteenth century.

At the end of the sixteenth century we find the Renaissance fully developed; and for the next fifty years Flanders is the willing slave of Rubens and his school. The Decadence quickly follows.

The provinces that now constitute Holland and Belgium went hand in hand in the Decorative Arts until about 1600. If there was any difference, Holland was more influenced by German and Flanders by French Art. After the establishment of the Dutch trade with the Far East at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Dutch and Flemish Art diverge.

In the following chapters I have tried to trace these influences and developments.

In illustrating the book I have gone to the original works of the great masters of design—De Vries, Van de Passe, Marot and others. As for Dutch interiors, nothing can convey a clearer idea of the home than the famous pictures by the Great and Little Masters—Jan Steen, Teniers, Rembrandt, Cocques, Metsu, Maes, Terburg, Dou, Weenix, Van Hoogstraten, Troost, etc., etc., many of whose famous canvases are reproduced here.

I also include photographic reproductions of authentic examples of Dutch and Flemish furniture preserved in the Cluny, Rijks, Stedelijk and other museums.

In my attempt to reconstruct Dutch and Flemish interiors of past days, I have consulted not only histories, memoirs and books of travel, but wills and inventories as well.

I wish to thank Mr. Arthur Shadwell Martin for valuable research and aid for both text and illustrations.

E. S.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTER I
THE MIDDLE AGES

Ecclesiastical Art—Wood-carving and Carvers—Primitive character of the Furniture of Castles and Mansions—Huchiers—Menuisiers—A Typical Bedroom—Dinanderie—Wood-work and panelling—Chest, banc, bahut, sideboard, dressoir, credence, table and chair—Embroideries—Definition of Chambre—Textiles and Tapestries—Ecclesiastical hangings—Tapestry-weavers—Tapestry of Philip the Bold—Flemish Looms—Cordovan and Flemish Leathers—Goldsmith’s Work—Glass and Glass-workers—Guilds of St. Luke.

In the turbulent days of the Middle Ages, the goods of the Church were the only ones respected, and, sometimes, not even those. The castles afforded protection to those in their immediate vicinity, but rival feudal ambitions rendered the calling of a luxurious craftsman more or less precarious. The abbey walls always sheltered a community of carpenters, joiners, leather-dressers, iron-workers, goldsmiths, sculptors, painters and calligraphists.

Towards the end of the Crusades, the new organization of the Communes, after the period of anarchy, becomes firmly established. Industry, commerce and art begin to make rapid strides in the towns, and craftsmen form themselves into corporations that receive special privileges from their titular overlords. So long as the artists of the ecclesiastical school remained under the protection of the monastic houses, they naturally followed a hieratic road. The ornamentation they were called upon to produce for the Church, they reproduced when luxurious furniture was required in domestic life. The great Corporations, however, as they grew in wealth and power, demanded something superior to, or at least, different from, the work of their forerunners. In the monastic houses, it was long before this influence made itself felt; but among the secular clergy it received a hearty welcome.

The distinguishing character of Mediaeval work is the freedom of execution allowed to the workman. The architect decided on heights, dimensions, dispositions of parts and profiles of stalls, or armoires; but the details were left to be worked out by the artistic ability of the skilled workman. Individual expression was allowed full play, while the original conception of the designer was respected.

Gradually, as the Communes became more powerful and were able to afford stable protection to their members, the spirit of association and solidarity tended to break away from exclusively ecclesiastical art.

The art of wood-carving was developed principally in the production of choir-stalls and altar-pieces. The building of a beautiful temple to the glory of God was usually begun by some pious founder from motives of gratitude or repentance. It was dedicated to some patron saint, and the work was carried out under the supervision of some abbey or other religious house. Often the church or cathedral was originally the abbey church itself. In early Mediaeval days, the arts and sciences were confined to the cloister, and the embellishment of the Holy House was a labour of love. Many an obscure monk put all that was beautiful and fanciful in his nature into the production of carvings in stone and wood that have never been surpassed.

The precise date at which choir-stalls were introduced into churches is not known; but it is certain that they were in general use as soon as the Pointed Style was finally established, that is to say, not later than the thirteenth century. When the sanctuary was railed off from the rest of the church, the priests, in their light garb, naturally wanted to be protected from cold, damp and draught by woodwork, which, like the high back of a settle, enclosed the choir.

The stall is composed of several parts: the socle, the tablet, or seat, half of which can be raised, as it turns on hinges, the half thus raised, called the miséricorde, serves as a support for a person resting, half standing, half sitting; the paraclose, or sides that separate it from the adjoining stalls [the forward extremities of these are called museaux (snouts)]; the arm rest; the high back; the daïs, or baldaquin; and, lastly, the woodwork at each end of a set of stalls, called jouées (cheeks).

With the exceptions of the socle and seat, every part of the stall in all the great Gothic churches has received very richly carved ornamentation, which is often remarkable for its profusion of detail.

The miséricorde is ordinarily decorated with foliage and fruits; but it often presents fantastic objects, such as dragons, sirens, dogs, bears, and hybrid monsters of every kind. Frequently also we find personages in ridiculous and gross attitudes, and all sorts of human and animal caricatures. The paraclose is decorated with Gothic tracery in the earliest examples; and later with foliage, tendrils and branches of elegant curve. These are usually open-work, the pierced oak producing a charmingly light and graceful effect. Sometimes here also we find human and animal forms. The high backs are enriched with bas-reliefs, the subjects of which are by no means taken exclusively from the Old or New Testament. On the contrary, here the carvers have given free rein to their fancy by reproducing scenes of private life, and graceful compositions of flowers and fruits with little animals intermingled. Sometimes the subjects are framed in clusters of colonnettes, or in pilasters decorated with niches containing statues. Sometimes also statues of considerable size adorn this woodwork. The jouées receive the most beautiful decorations, and frequently these side entrances to the stalls are ornamented by statues. The daïs, which at first was merely a shelter of boards on an inclined plane over the whole range of stalls, began to assume great importance in the fifteenth century. It curved into vaultings; and very soon each seat received a separate daïs decorated with ogives, pinnacles, little steeples, pendentives, culs-de-lampe and crockets; and the skilful carver did not hesitate to introduce delightful statuettes into the company of all these decorations.

Plate I.—Choir-Stall.

A fine example of a Mediaeval carved oak stall is shown in Plate [I]. By the richness of the carving it must originally have held an important position in some choir. Richly ornamented with Gothic shafting and tracery, it is a splendid example of architectural furniture. The miséricorde represents a knight fighting with a dragon. The scene depicted with the chisel on the back is the favourite Judgment of Solomon. Around the elbows are various animals and men on all fours. The side scrolls under the daïs are decorated with angels playing trumpets.

The names of the carvers who embellished the Mediaeval choirs have, as a rule, been lost; and fire and iconoclasm have destroyed most of their work. Some few relics, however, of the splendour of wood-carving as it existed before the Renaissance are still to be found. For elaborate oak carving of the fifteenth century, it would be hard to find a more interesting example than the carved oak stalls in the great church of Bolsward (Broederkerk) in Holland. This was built in 1280 A.D.; but the richly carved late Gothic choir stalls date from about 1450.

One of the earliest churches of the Low Countries is that of Nivelles. The convent was founded about 650 A.D. by Ita, wife of Pepin of Landen. The Romanesque church, built in the eleventh century, somewhat spoilt by bad restoration, still stands. On the high altar is the shrine of St. Gertrude, which was carved in 1272 by the orfèvres Nicolas Colars, of Douai and Jackenon of Nivelles. This work of art is famous for the delicacy and beauty of its details.

The Protestant Church of Breda (Hervormde Kerk), built in 1290, also contains notable carving, especially on the side entrances of the stalls (jouées). The choir was consecrated in 1410, and here the carvers gave free rein to satire on the clergy, representing the monks in various comical attitudes.

Examples of ecclesiastical furniture of Mediaeval days are naturally scarce, as might be expected on the “Battlefield of Europe.” It is indeed astonishing that so much has survived after the ordeal by fire and sword to which the Netherlands have been so often subjected. Occasionally we come across a muniment chest. An interesting one, the front of which is perforated with quatrefoils, is to be seen in Notre Dame, Huy. This dates from 1225. Two others in the same treasury are by the hand of Godefroid de Claire, called “the noble high goldsmith”; these, however, have lost their original character, having been restored in 1560 by Jaspar, a Namur goldsmith.

The ordinary movable furniture of a castle or Mediaeval mansion was of a very primitive character. It must be remembered that in those days merchants travelled from town to town in veritable caravans. Nobles whose business or pleasure induced them constantly to be changing their residence, also travelled with an escort and baggage-train that resembled a small army. The necessary furniture and goods for the comfort of the household were carried in carts and on the backs of mules. The wooden furniture was, therefore, primitive. The tables consisted of boards and trestles; the beds were of similarly elemental construction; and what seats were taken along were also of the folding variety. The beds and benches were supplied with cushions carried in chests, and the walls were hung with printed linen or tapestry, while the floors were covered with rugs, or, in the majority of cases, with odoriferous plants, rushes, or straw. Luxury chiefly declared itself in rich products of the goldsmith’s art, which were displayed on buffets of shelves rising like steps. These customs prevailed for several centuries.

Pieces of furniture of earlier date than 1400 are exceedingly rare; and those existing had a religious destination, and are preserved in, or taken from, churches and convents.

In the fourteenth century, as Gothic Art blossomed after the disturbing influence of the Crusades, carving entered more extensively into the decoration of furniture, as it was more highly developed in ecclesiastical art. The cabinet-makers of the period were skilful carvers: in France and Flanders these huchiers-menuisiers were called upon to supply royal and princely castles with artistic furniture, the accounts of which have come down to us. We find not only carved oak, but also tables inlaid with ebony and ivory. The chief feature, however, of interior decoration during the fourteenth century was the hangings. The Genoese and Venetians still had a monopoly of the trade with the Levant; and Europe was supplied by the Italians with Oriental rugs, tablecloths and hangings. The Flemish looms also produced rich stuffs for upholstery and chamber hangings, which were often sumptuously embroidered.

Through the fourteenth century, wood-carving kept pace with the lovely stone sculpture of the cathedrals. We learn there was no light furniture in palace or castle, but that even in the lady’s chamber there were only benches, trestles, forms, faldstools and armchairs. The wood-carver carved these with a mass of bas-reliefs and bosses; the carpenters surrounded them with panelling; and the artists painted them red and decorated them with white rosettes.

In studying the arts and crafts of the Middle Ages, we must always bear in mind the fact that art was not specialized. The workmen were thoroughly trained, and their artistic talents had free play. We find many men who were at once architects, sculptors, painters, goldsmiths and image-makers. This condition existed till the middle of the seventeenth century.

In the Middle Ages, the carpenter made the household furniture which formed an integral part of the dwelling; and he was quite capable of giving to it the Gothic ornamentation in vogue.

It was not till the fourteenth century that the increase of luxury and the progress of the arts demanded a division of labour; and that the huchiers and joiners formed separate bodies from the carpenters. The huchiers, who then became exclusively what we should now call joiners and cabinet-makers, devoted their attention especially to all that required ornate treatment in carving, such as doors, windows, shutters and panelling, as well as chests, benches, bedsteads, chairs, dressers and wardrobes. These were largely fixtures and formed part of the permanent woodwork of a hall, or bedroom. The mouldings and other ornaments were carved directly out of the oak, and not applied.

Plate II.—Bedroom (Fifteenth Century).
Fig. 1: Aiguière (Fifteenth Century); Fig. 2: Aiguière (Fourteenth Century); Fig. 3: Bracket Candlestick; Fig. 4: Bed, Chair, and Stool (Fourteenth Century); Fig. 5: Bahut and Chair (Fifteenth Century).

Before the great artists of the Netherlands arise, we must go to the miniatures of early manuscripts in order to form a correct idea of a Mediaeval interior. We usually find a very simple arrangement of furniture, which consists of a bed, a bench, an armchair and some kind of dressoir, or sideboard. The floor is tiled, or tessellated; and sometimes the bed stands on a rug or carpet, which also covers part of the adjoining floor space. The windows with small leaded panes are supplied with shutters of two or three wings: these are sometimes covered with leather fastened with large brass-headed nails. The chimney-piece is always wide and high; the funnel shape of this occurs in the earliest examples. The shelf above the opening is usually adorned with glass, plate or earthenware. The armchair stands beside, or near, the bed; the dressoir is close by; and the settle is beside, or sometimes in front of, the fire. The bed is often nothing but a long chest on short legs with a mattress and pillows on top; and this is moved out in front of the fire in case of need. The curtains and canopy are suspended by cords from the rafters, as is also the chandelier.

This same arrangement of furniture occurs in a picture of the Salutation angélique in the Louvre, by an unknown Flemish painter: it has been attributed both to Lucas van Leyden and Memling. This room, reproduced in Plate [II], is one of the middle class at the end of the fifteenth century. The walls are bare, the ceiling shows open rafters of natural wood, and the floor is tiled. The panes of the windows are leaded, and the inner shutters, which are trebly hinged so as at need to fold into the thickness of the wall, are, moreover, divided in two parts, so that only the top may be opened if needed. The other window has a window seat. The high chimneypiece is furnished with the lateral shelves in use throughout Mediaeval times from the twelfth century onward. The chimney diminishes in size as it rises, like an inverted funnel. In summer time, when the fire was not needed, the fireplace was masked by a wooden screen to prevent draughts. In front of this, with its back to the screen, was placed the high-backed settle, which in winter faced, or was placed laterally to the cheerful blaze of the hearth. The bench shown in this picture is made of plain boards, with a little plain Gothic carving below the seat. For comfort, it is supplied with three red cushions. The bed, which is raised on a low platform, is also furnished with red curtains, bolster and counterpane. The tester is suspended by cords from the ceiling. Beside the head of the bed is a chair, and next to that a credence, which is used as a wash-hand stand. On it are placed a ewer and shallow basin. These, and the brass chandelier hanging above, are of the manufacture of Dinant, a metal ware known all over Europe under the name of Dinanderie. The chandelier has six branches, each a grotesque form of some animal, and the top of it is surmounted by the figure of a seated quadruped. It is raised and lowered by a pulley and chain.

The ewer, or aiguière, standing on the credence, is an excellent specimen of Dinanderie of the fifteenth century; it has a double spout, as shown in Fig. 1. Other examples of Dinanderie of this period are represented in Fig. 2, a grotesque aiguière; and Fig. 3, a bracket candlestick of very graceful form.

Dinanderie became celebrated as early as the thirteenth century. Although made at first in Dinant, its manufacture spread throughout the valley of the Meuse, and Dinantairs were established in various cities and towns in the Netherlands, Germany, England and France. In 1380, one Jehan de Dinant, living at Rheims, furnished some articles to the King. Among the copper and brass ware delivered at this period to the royal household and to the establishments of other great personages by this workman, we find all kinds of kitchen articles, cooking utensils, stoves of all sizes, wash-basins, kettles for heating water for the bath, barbers’ basins, large boilers of all kinds, warming-pans for the beds, candlesticks, chandeliers, and aiguières (ewers).

The permanent woodwork of the apartments in Mediaeval days was furniture, without being “movables,” just like the carved oak in the choir of a cathedral. The panelling contained cupboards and wardrobes; bedsteads were contrived in the timbered lining of the walls; and the woodwork readily lent itself to the adaptation of window seats, settles and benches. It may easily be understood how the woodwork of a room might conceal a whole series of shelves to which sliding panels, or panels opening outwards as doors, gave access. These various compartments served as cabinets for curios, bookcases, glass and plate cupboards, wardrobes and larders. When one of these compartments was made as a separate piece of furniture to stand by itself out against the flat wall of a room, it was called a cabinet, or armoire. As late as the middle of the seventeenth century, however, the armoire was generally part of the fixed woodwork. Relai was another name for it. Thus in 1635, Monet defines armoire, armaire, aumoire as a “reservoir pratique en la muraille à servir et garder tout chose”; and Cotgrave (1673) has: “Relai” as “armaire, a hole or box contrived in or against a wall.”

The plain box, or chest, was the origin of all the developments of Mediaeval furniture. It had many uses: it contained the treasures and valuables of the lord; it was used as a packing-case or trunk for travelling; with supports at the four corners and back, and arms added above, it served as a chair or settle, with a seat that could be lifted on hinges; raised also on legs and supplied with a daïs, it became a dressoir, credence, or sideboard; chest-upon-chest superimposed, developed into the elaborate armoire; and, finally, supplied with a head and foot rail and made comfortable with mattress or pillows, it served as a bed.

In the old manuscripts of the Middle Ages, we find many illustrations of the developments of the chest and its various uses. Fig. 4 shows a long chest with short solid legs on which bedding is laid, and over which a canopy with curtains has been raised. By its side is a chair, the seat of which is manifestly the lid of a small chest. The chest-bed and chair stand on a carpet: the floor is tiled. The shape of the pillow is characteristic of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The carving of the panels in bed and chair show the “linen fold,” which was so popular in the Netherlands and which was laid in even more intricate folds by the English carvers. Gothic tracery in furniture, in combination with the “linen-fold” is shown in the chair of Fig. 5, which exhibits also another chest, or bahut. The original illustration shows flames leaping up the chimney, against which the bed is closely placed. The cushions, with heavy tassels at each corner, are similar in shape to those in Fig. 4.

There were several varieties of the chest, known by various names, such as huche, bahut and arche. The huche usually had a flat top: it was the oldest and simplest form—a plain oblong box. As time wore on the huche gave its name to the cabinet-makers (the huchiers) of the Middle Ages. They made windows, doors, panels, shutters, bancs, bahuts, armoires, credences, and whatever else was required; and the guild of huchiers was one of the largest corporations of the period.

The huchiers were particularly distinguished for their execution of choir-stalls and splendid carving. The huche, at first a very simple piece of furniture, was later decorated with beautiful paintings and rich carvings; moreover, it was enriched and strengthened with chiselled and pierced iron hinges and locks.

The chests until the thirteenth century were works of simple carpentry. The faces consist of plain surfaces which are ornamented with paintings on linen or leather; and further adorned with hinges and clamps of pierced and wrought metal.

The bancs, benches or settles, were made in the Middle Ages by the huchiers. They were made of planks and often had backs and arms. In the fifteenth century, they were enriched with sculpture and surmounted by a canopy or daïs. They were also called formes or bancs d’œuvre. The Cluny Museum possesses many fine examples of this period, both civil and religious. In the halls and bedrooms of the Mediaeval châteaux the banc is often seen placed laterally before the wide chimney-piece, and its high back was very useful in keeping off the draughts. It may be thought that their rigid form and absence of upholstery rendered them uncomfortable, but the numerous soft cushions with which they were supplied quite atoned for the absence of upholstery. (See Plate [II].)

The chief use of the Mediaeval sideboard was the display of ornate plate, crystal and similar articles. The kitchen dresser with its shelves holding plates and dishes set upright against the wall is a lineal descendant of the old dressoir. The shelves of the dressoir were regulated by etiquette: every noble person could have a dressoir with three shelves; others, only two; royalty had four and five.

According to some authorities, the difference between the dressoir and the buffet is simply this: the dressoir was intended to display the articles taken from the buffet, and had no drawers and no cupboard; the buffet, on the other hand, contained both drawers and cupboards. The buffet of our dining-rooms and our cellarets that close with lock and key, are therefore survivals of the credence of the Middle Ages.

Sometimes the credence and dressoir were combined in one piece, or rather the dressoir served as a credence. A small one shown in the illuminated MS. of the Histoire de Gérard, Comte de Nevers, has but one shelf, upon which the silver platters are arranged, leaning against the back, which is covered with some kind of fabric. The cupboard serving as a credence is covered with a cloth on which are placed three silver ewers—aiguières. This was, therefore, more of a buffet than a dressoir, for the real dressoir, as we have seen, was composed of shelves (gradins) and had a back (dorsal), or sometimes a daïs of stuff or sculptured wood.

Plate III.—Flemish Dressoir (Fifteenth Century).
Figs. 6–7: Dressoirs (Fifteenth Century); Fig. 8: Table on Trestles; Fig. 9: Metal Chair.

Varieties of the dressoir of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries appear in Plate [III], and Figs. 6 and 7; and a credence of the fifteenth century of Gothic decoration from the Cluny Museum, Paris, on Plate [IV].

The Mediaeval table was a simple affair, with either fixed or movable supports. In nine cases out of ten, either in hall or cottage, it consisted simply of a board and trestles. In court and castle, kings and nobles sat only on one side, the other being left free for service, and for a clear view of the mummers, jongleurs and minstrels who entertained the company during the feast. These boards and trestles could be readily folded up and packed away in carts for travelling. A good example of the fifteenth century table of this construction occurs in a picture of Mary Magdalen at the feet of Jesus, by Derick Bouts (1410–1475). This is represented in Fig. 8.

We have seen that the chest with its various developments—chair, bench, bed and dressoir—furnished the Mediaeval chamber. The ordinary hall contained merely a plain buffet and a table, consisting of boards and trestles, with simple forms for seats. Chairs there were none, except for the lord and honoured guests at the head of the board. It must not be supposed, however, that there was no attempt at comfort or decoration in the homes of the Middle Ages. It would be difficult to attach too much importance to the use of cushions and hangings.

We have already seen one form of chair in Figs. 4 and 5, which show a box with a lid for the seat, on which is a cushion. This chair has arms and a high panelled back. The common stool, faldstool, or escarbeau also appears in Fig. 4. The rigid square high-backed chair, however, was not the only form known in the Middle Ages. The type represented in Fig. 9 was in great favour. This chair is reproduced from a miniature by Jehan de Bruges (fl. 1370). This form of chair, with curved lines in the back, arms and supports, was a great favourite, not only in the Netherlands, but throughout Europe for several centuries. Sometimes it was made of wood, and carved on the extremities of the back, arms and legs; and sometimes it was made of wrought metal, brass, silver and even gold. In the latter case it was probably plated. Sometimes the inventories mention chairs of great value and very precious workmanship. Some of them were even ornamented with enamel. These were the work of the orfèvre. Brass and copper chairs of this type were made in large numbers by the skilful smiths of Dinant. Naturally they were comfortably and sumptuously upholstered. An inventory of 1328 contains an item of a chair of copper garnished with velvet.

Flanders was always famous for its woven stuffs: wool was the staple on which its prosperity depended. The Duke of Burgundy recognized this when he chose the Golden Fleece as the emblem of his great Order of Knighthood. Apart from the looms, the art of the needle was also held in high esteem; and ladies of high and low estate devoted much of their time to embroidery.

Everything was embroidered: vestments and cloths for the church; shoes, gloves, hats and clothes of men and women; and cushions and draperies for the house. Notwithstanding the lavish use of tapestry, the taste for embroidered materials was ever on the increase. The entire furnishings for a bedroom were often the product of the needle; for instance, the “embroidered chamber” of Jane of Burgundy, Queen of Philip V, at her coronation at Rheims in 1330, was ornamented with 1321 parrots, with the arms of the King, and 1321 butterflies, with the arms of Burgundy.

In Mediaeval days, the word “chambre” had a broader signification than it has to-day. By chambre was meant the whole of the rugs, curtains, hangings and upholstery that adorned a bedroom. There was a distinction drawn between “court pointerie” and “tapisserie.” “Court pointerie” included everything pertaining to the bed, such as the daïs, mattress, head-board, etc. The “tapisserie” was changed every season like the altar cloths and vestments of church and clergy. Cords were run across the rafters, and the curtains and canopies were hung on these with hooks. Thus the rooms at the various seasons received such names as the “Easter,” “Christmas,” or “All Saints’ Chamber.” Then again the rooms were named after the subjects (mythological, historical, romantic or religious), of the tapestry that adorned them, such as the Chamber of the Cross, of the Lions, of the Conquest of England, of Queen Penthesile, of the Nine Paladins, of the Unicorn and Maiden, etc., etc.

Plate [II] shows how the canopy and curtains of the bed were usually supported. Sometimes, however, the hangings were attached to the rods by means of tenterhooks.

The inventories and chronicles of the Middle Ages frequently mention textiles; but it is difficult to know from the numerous terms the old scribes employ whether they are describing woollen and silk tapestry, brocades, damasks, velvets, or embroidered material. The fabrics are of many varieties, and their names vary with the details of production and places of manufacture, as well as the material of which they are composed, and the subjects they depict.

A great deal of Byzantine tapestry, with other hangings and carpets, was brought into Western Europe, by those returning from the First Crusade (1096–1099); and after 1146, when Count Robert of Sicily brought home from his expedition into Greece some captive silk-workers, and established a manufactory for brocades and damasks at Palermo, beautiful materials were carried northward from Italy.

During the early centuries the use of tapestry was very extensively devoted to the decoration of churches, and therefore represented scenes from the Scriptures, and lives of the Saints and the Virgin.

Cathedrals and monasteries were very rich in hangings of tapestry, brocades, and embroideries of various kinds, as well as stuffs on which ornaments were laid and sewn. About 985, the Abbot Robert of the monastery of Saint Florent of Saumur, ordered a number of curtains, carpets, cushions, dossers and wall-hangings, all of wool; and, moreover, had two large pieces of tapestry made in which silk was introduced, and on which lions and elephants were represented upon a red background.

In 1133, another Abbot of the same monastery had two dossers made to hang in the choir during festivals. On one of these the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse with citharas and viols were depicted. The hangings he got for the nave, represented centaurs, lions and other animals.

On all festal occasions, the cathedrals were beautifully decorated with superb tapestries. Some of them served as hangings and door-curtains, others draped the altars, while the seats and backs of the benches were covered with pieces called bancalia, spaleriae, and dossalia. Tapestries also covered the baldachins, or canopies; and foot-carpets, called substratoria, tapetes, tapeta, or tapecii were lavishly spread upon the ground.

During the thirteenth century tapestries came into general use for hangings in private mansions. It is not unlikely that Baldwin, Count of Flanders, who came into power in 1204, stimulated the work of the Netherland looms; for, from the very opening years of the thirteenth century, the Flemish weavers adopted brighter colours in their tapestries; and Damme, the poet of Bruges, received all kinds of goods from the East, including “seeds for producing the scarlet dye.”

This was the period when the Roman was in full flower, and the tapestries naturally turned from Biblical to heroic stories. The artists and weavers now begin to devote their energies to the production of secular subjects. The stories of Paris and Helen, Æneas, and others from Grecian mythology, become as popular as those inspired by the Bible.

High-warp workers were established in Paris, Arras, Brussels and Tournay in the first half of the fourteenth century; but it is not until the reign of Charles V (1364–1380) that they are explicitly described in the inventories. The King was a collector of French and Flemish tapestries: he had more than 130 armorial tapestries and 33 “tapis à images” that decorated the walls.

The Dukes of Anjou, Orleans, Berry and Burgundy, had very valuable sets. Charles VI also had fine pieces. He bought from Nicholas Bataille, a Flemish worker, who calls himself a citizen of Paris in 1363, about 250 hangings. Bataille produced many superb pieces for the wealthy houses of the day, and many sets for Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. A fellow-worker, Jacques Dourdain, who died in 1407, made tapestries for the Duke of Burgundy, to whom he sent in 1389 The Conquest of the King of Friesland by Aubri the Burgundian, The Story of Marionet, Ladies setting out for the Chase, The Wishes of Love, The Nine Amazons, The History of Bertrand Duguesclin, and A History of the Romance of the Rose. The latter must have been very choice, as it was woven “in gold of Cyprus and Arras thread.” He also furnished this rich patron with other hangings, the greater number of which were cloth of gold.

The marriage of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, to the daughter and heir of the Count of Flanders, in 1369, greatly helped the Flemish tapestry-workers, who soon equalled those of Paris. For instance, the Duke gave an order to Michel Bernard of Arras for a fine piece, called The Battle of Rosbeck, of colossal dimensions. It measured 285 square yards, and cost 2,600 francs d’or. Other sets purchased from the Arras looms were: The Coronation of Our Lady, The Seven Ages, Story of Doon de la Roche, History of King Pharaoh and the People of Moses, Life of St. Margaret, The Virtues and Vices, History of Froimont de Bordeaux, Story of St. George, Story of Shepherds and Shepherdesses, Life of St. Anne, Story of Percival the Gaul, Hunt of Guy of Romany, History of Amis and Amile, History of Octavius of Rome, History of King Clovis, History of King Alexander, and of Robert the Fusileer, History of William of Orange, and a Pastoral.

The Flemish looms thus early acquired a great reputation, rivalling those of the midland and northern provinces of France. Paris, Arras, Brussels and Tournay were the chief centres for the most beautiful high-warp tapestry. Arras was celebrated as early as 1311, when Marchaut, Countess of Artois, paid a large sum for “a woollen cloth worked with various figures bought at Arras”; and in 1313 she ordered from the same town “five cloths worked in high warp.” The name became generic: the Italians called all woven tapestries Arazzi; the Spaniards, Panos de raz; and the English, “Arras,” a name that was used for many centuries. Polonius hides “behind the arras,” in Hamlet, and Spenser, in The Faerie Queen, says:

Thence to the hall, which was on every side

With rich array and costly arras dight.

Book I., Canto iv.

Agnes Sorel owned a superb specimen at her Château de Beauté in 1350. It is described as “a large piece of Arras, on which are pictured the deeds and battles of Judas Maccabaeus and Antiochus, and stretches from one of the gables of the gallery of Beauté to the other, and is the same height as the said gallery.”

During the troublous times in France under Charles VI, the Paris looms ceased to work, and Flanders supplied all the tapestry that came to France. In 1395, the Duke of Orleans orders his treasurer to deliver to Jaquet Dordin, “merchant and bourgeois of Paris,” 1,800 francs for “three pieces of high-warp tapestry of fine Arras thread.”

Leather was also extensively used during the Middle Ages for interior decoration: it was hung upon the walls and beds; it was spread upon the floors; and it covered the seats and backs of chairs, coffers, cabinets, shelves, folding stools, frames, frames for mirrors, and all kinds of boxes both large and small. In 1420, we hear of a piece of Cordovan called cuirace vermeil “to put on the floor around a bed,” and also a “chamber hanging” of “silvered cuir de mouton, ornamented with red figures.” Charles V of France had “fifteen cuirs d’Arragon to put on the floor in summer,” and the Duke of Burgundy’s inventory of 1427 mentions “leathers to spread in the chamber in summer time.”

The Duke of Berry had twenty-nine great cuirs among his possessions, which were used to cover the walls, beds and chairs.

Leather made a very sumptuous, durable and decorative wall-hanging. The patterns of flowers, foliage, arms, devices and other figures were richly gilded, and stood out in high relief from the brilliant backgrounds of red, blue, green, orange, violet, brown or silver. Although the use of gilded leather (cuirs dorés) did not become general until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the art of gilding, silvering, painting and goffering leather had long been known. It is more than probable that the First Crusaders brought home specimens; but it is certain that Cordova was making beautiful gilded leathers in the eleventh century. The most beautiful, as well as the most beautifully worked, leathers came from Spain, where they were often called Guadameciles, from Ghadames in Africa where they were prepared for many years, and from which town the Moors carried the art into Cordova. Ebn’ Abd el Noûr el Hamîri el Toûnsi (of Tunis), in his geographical work written in the twelfth century, thinks it worth while to mention that the djild el Ghadâmosi comes from Ghadames. The monk, Theophilus, in his Diversarum artium Schedula shows how well Arabian leather was known, and describes the methods of preparing it for decoration; but from what he says it appears that leather was used at that period only for the coverings of chairs, stalls, benches, stools, etc., and not for wall-hangings.

From Cordova the manufacture spread into Portugal, Italy, France and Brabant. The great centres for gilded leathers in the Middle Ages were Cordova, Lille, Brussels, Liège, Antwerp, Mechlin and Venice; and each town impressed a special style upon its productions, which connoisseurs are able to recognize.

The Cordovan leathers are stamped with patterns of very high relief, gilded and painted, the designs consisting of branches or large flowers in the style of the textiles of Damascus and India. The South Kensington Museum has a very fine collection of Spanish leathers ornamented with foliage, flowers, vases, birds and pomegranates. The colours of the background are green, blue, white, gold, red, etc.

The Flemish leathers are very similar to those of Cordova, but the relief is less pronounced and the designs are more delicate. The hangings of Flanders are almost exclusively made of calfskin, and they were highly prized throughout Europe.

Generally speaking, the earliest specimens of gilded leathers resemble on a large scale the miniatures in the manuscripts: there is little or no perspective, and the subjects are like those of the contemporary tapestry drawn from sacred or mythological stories. The details of the faces, ornaments, costumes, arms, etc., are stamped by hand-work and finished with a brush; and the background, instead of representing sky, is ornamented by guilloches (twisted bands) in gold and colour, applied by means of a goffering iron.

The Low Countries were almost as celebrated for their orfèvrerie as for their tapestries. Celebrated schools of goldsmith’s work existed in the Netherlands during the tenth and eleventh centuries in Waulsort under the direction of d’Erembert, in Stavelot and in Maestricht; and the diocese of Liège had an important atelier for enamel-work in the twelfth century. A very skilful goldsmith named Godefroid de Clerc worked in the town of Huy in the first half of the thirteenth century, and another was Friar Hugo, who made in the Abbaye d’Oignies the famous pieces now in the treasury of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Namur.

The principal towns of Flanders, Ghent, Bruges, Tournay, Liège and Brussels, possessed in the thirteenth century skilful goldsmiths who followed the principles of the School of the Rhine. In 1266, the Brussels goldsmiths formed an important Corporation to which John III, Count of Hainault, granted privileges. It was in the fourteenth century particularly that the Flemish goldsmiths acquired a great reputation.

A great deal of the goldsmith’s work during these centuries was ornamented with niello, the style of decoration following the Rhenish School.

The goldsmiths were sculptors, chisellers and engravers, as well as designers; and, moreover, modelled beautifully in wax. When their works were cast in silver, they ornamented these themselves with beaten bas-reliefs, or traced delicate patterns upon the surface of the metal with the burin. Wishing to make the figures stand out more prominently, they used cross-hatchings on the background and cut out the shadowy parts, which they then filled with black enamel. This made the uncovered portions of the silver shine with more brilliancy. To this effective work was given the name niello (nigellum), on account of its colour. This black enamel was used to ornament the chalices and other church vessels, the hilts of swords, handles of knives, and particularly the handsome little coffers, or cabinets, which, with the bahut, comprised the furniture that the bride always carried to her new home. These little boxes were usually of ebony, ornamented more or less with incrustations of ivory, shell, mother-of-pearl, pietra-dura, or niello, according to the wealth of the respective families. When decorated with niello, the designs consisted of simple ornaments or arabesques, single figures or groups.

Western Europe made no glass in Mediaeval days: what was used in church and castle all came from the East. In the early inventories, whenever an object of coloured glass is found, it is always accompanied by a mention of its Oriental origin. It is doubtful whether even plain glass was manufactured in England, France, Germany or the Netherlands before the close of the Crusades. The efforts made as late as the fourteenth century by several French and German princes to attract glass-blowers to their dominions shows how scarce they were.

In 1338, we find a feudal noble giving a portion of his forest to a certain Guionet, who was acquainted with the methods of glass-making, to set up a glass factory, on condition of supplying his house every year with one hundred dozen bell glasses, twelve dozen little vase-shaped glasses, twenty dozen hanaps, or cups with feet, twelve amphorae, and other objects. As in all the other industrial arts, Flanders was well to the fore in the manufacture of plain glass. Before 1400, glass factories existed there; but the products were only white glass, not gilded nor enamelled. The Flemish wares, however, were highly prized, and were freely exported to other countries. In 1379, we find in the inventory of Charles V of France: “Ung gobelet et une aiguière de voirre blant de Flandres garni d’argent.”

To have glass mounted in silver shows how precious it was considered in those days. Moreover, the royal accounts of the end of the fourteenth century prove that Charles VI accorded high protection and recompense to the Flemish glass-blowers who established their industry in France. Before the end of the fifteenth century, we find entries that would seem to show that the Low Countries were no longer exclusively dependent on the Orient for coloured and enamelled glass. In the inventory of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1477), we read: “Une coupe de voirre jaune garny d’or; ... une couppe de voirre vert garny d’or; ... un pot de voirre de couleur vert, garny d’or; ... un aiguière de voirre vert torssé garny d’or; ... deux petis pots de voirre bleu espez, garnis d’argent doré; ... ung voirre taillé d’un esgle, d’un griffon et d’une double couronne garny d’argent.” These, however, may have come from Venice, which city had in the latter half of the fifteenth century learned from the Greeks the secret of making coloured, gilded and enamelled glass.

Painting on glass was never held in higher honour than during the fifteenth century: castles and mansions were adorned with coloured windows like the churches; and, therefore, a considerable number of windows of this period have survived. The Cathedrals of Tournay, Dietz and Antwerp offer splendid examples. In M. Levy’s Histoire de la peinture sur verre, are the names of several Flemish glass-painters that have escaped oblivion.

The principal schools that fostered all forms of Decorative Art were the Guilds of St. Luke. They sprang up in every prosperous city, and were very close corporations of trades unionism. The idea probably originated in Italy. A Society of St. Luke was established in Venice before 1290, and another in Florence in 1349. One Gerard de Groote organized a brotherhood of this kind in Cologne in the fourteenth century; and Societies of St. Luke were founded in Flanders in the fifteenth century. These Guilds exerted the greatest influence upon taste and skill, for in these Societies of Guilds of St. Luke, side by side with the Masters of Painting and Sculpture, were placed what we may call the Masters of the Decorative Arts. There were workers in stone and marble including mosaics in colour for the decoration of churches and chapels; workers in enamel and ceramics for vases, panelling and pavements; workers in wood, sculptors and carvers for the altar fronts, canopies, choir stalls, etc. (these menuisiers also worked in marquetry and intarsie, and produced furniture for the sacristy, coffers, bahuts, etc., and pontifical seats); glass-workers who produced windows, panels and embroideries with glass beads for decoration; metalworkers, including goldsmiths, bronze-workers, who made sacred vessels, luminaries, fonts ornamented with repoussé-work, chiselling, engraving, incrustation with precious stones and niello-niellure; leather-workers (including makers of harness for wars and tourneys); gilders, setters of jewels; bookbinders; illuminators and painters of manuscripts; weavers and embroiderers of tapestries, silken stuffs, etc.

Society benefited by development of these arts very greatly, and the sumptuous adornment of the churches soon extended to private dwellings. Carved panels, or panels inlaid with precious woods, soon decorated the walls of wealthy houses that were further enriched by magnificent tissues of silk and gold, tapestries or panels of stamped leather as a background for pictures beautifully framed in carved and gilt wood. In marquetry furniture, the most remarkable objects were the coffers for jewels, and the cabinets (stipi), in ebony, shell and ivory, embellished with gilt, bronze, and the dower chests, “arches de mariage.”

CHAPTER II
THE BURGUNDIAN PERIOD

The luxurious Dukes of Burgundy—Possessions of the House of Burgundy—The Burgundian Court—Household of Philip the Good—the Feast of the Pheasant—the Duke of Burgundy at the Coronation of Louis XI—Arras Tapestries—Sumptuous Dressoirs and their Adornments—Celebrations in honour of the Knights of the Golden Fleece—Luxury of Charles the Bold—Charles the Bold at Trèves—Furnishings of the Abbey of Saint-Maximin—Charles the Bold’s Second Marriage—Furnishings of the Banqueting Hall at Bruges—Descriptions by Olivier de la Marche—Aliénor of Poitier’s Descriptions of the Furniture of the Duchess of Burgundy’s Apartments—Rich Dressoirs—the Drageoir and its Etiquette—the Etiquette of the Escarbeau—Philip the Bold’s Artisans—Flemish Carving—the Forme or Banc—Burgundian Workmanship—Ecclesiastical Work—Noted Carvers—Furniture of the Period—the “Golden Age of Tapestry”-Embroideries—Tapestry-weavers of the Low Countries—Introduction of Italian Cartoons—Goldsmiths’ Work—Furniture of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.

The most luxurious prince of his age was Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404), son of John the Good, King of France. By its alliances, conquests and inheritances, the House of Burgundy attained such wealth and power as to overshadow the French throne itself. Under his grandson, Philip the Good, the Burgundian Court displayed greater splendour than any other in Europe. The reigning dukes were powerful protectors of the arts. Their immense resources, drawn from the Flemish hives of industry, enabled them to indulge their taste for architecture, painting, sculpture, illuminated books, tapestry, goldsmiths’ work and sumptuous furniture. They were also insatiable collectors of everything that was curious and rare. Any able artist, sculptor, architect, goldsmith, or image-maker, driven from home by the perpetual civil wars in England, France and Italy, was sure of refuge and employment at the Court of Burgundy. Thus, for a century and a half, the Low Countries were the most important art centre of Europe. Dijon and Brussels, the capitals of the Burgundian dominions, were Meccas of Mediaeval Art; and Tournay, Bruges, Ypres, Ghent, Dinant, and many other industrial centres swarmed with craftsmen who produced all that was luxurious and beautiful for domestic comfort and decoration.

The house of Burgundy constantly increased its possessions. Some idea of its power is gained by a list of Philip the Good’s titles. He was Duke of Burgundy, of Brabant, of Lothier, of Luxembourg; Count of Flanders, of Artois and of Burgundy; Palatine of Hainault, of Holland, of Zeeland, of Namur and of Charolais; Marquis of the Holy Empire; and Lord of Friesland, of Salins and of Mechlin.

The brilliance and luxury of the Burgundian Court are attested by many chroniclers. The pages of Philip de Comines, Olivier de la Marche, and others are full of descriptions of feasts and pageantry from which we can form an idea of the luxurious appointments of the palatial dwellings of the day. Foreigners also, who were well acquainted with other European courts, bore witness to Burgundian splendour. One of these, Leo von Rozmital, who visited the courts of Europe in 1465–7, saw the Duke of Burgundy’s treasures. His suite was overpowered by the magnificence. The scribe, Tetzel, tried to enumerate and describe these marvels, but gave up the task in despair, noting “there was nothing like it in the whole world and that it far exceeded the Venetian collection.”

The son and successor of John the Fearless, Philip the Good (1396–1467), was even more luxurious than his grandfather, Philip the Bold. His Court was unequalled in Europe, and when in attendance upon the King of France, his retinue completely eclipsed royalty. His palaces in Brussels, Dijon and Paris were sumptuously furnished; and his collections of tapestries, silver, gold, jewels, embroideries, illuminated manuscripts and printed books excited the admiration of the travellers and chroniclers of the age. His household, composed of four great divisions—the Panetrie, Échansonnerie, Cuisine and Écurie, with subordinate departments, was subject to the strictest rules of etiquette and was adopted as a model by the Spanish sovereigns of the sixteenth century. The ceremonies of the levee, procession, council, audience, service of spices, banquet, etc., were selected as precedents for Vienna and Paris, as well as Madrid.

One of Philip’s most celebrated banquets—the Feast of the Pheasant, which took place at Lille in 1454—will serve to give a glimpse of the Court entertainments in his day. The large hall was hung with tapestry representing the labours of Hercules, and was encircled by five tiers of galleries for the spectators. The dressoir of enormous size was adorned with gold and silver vessels, and on either side of it stood a column. One of these had attached to it a carved female figure from whose breast flowed a fountain of hippocras; and to the other was fastened by an iron chain a live lion from Africa, a great curiosity in those days. The three great tables were covered with the most ingenious productions of the cooks, confectioners and machinists. “On a raised platform at the head of the first table sat the Duke. He was arrayed with his accustomed splendour—his dress of black velvet serving as a dark ground that heightened the brilliancy of the precious stones, valued at a million of gold crowns, with which it was profusely decked. Among the guests were a numerous body of knights who had passed the morning in the tilting-field, and fair Flemish dames whose flaunting beauty had inspired these martial sports. Each course was composed of forty-four dishes, which were placed on chariots painted in gold and azure, and were moved along the tables by concealed machinery.” As soon as the company was seated, the bells began to peal from the steeple of a huge pastry church with stained windows that concealed an organ and choir of singers, and three little choristers issued from the edifice and sang “a very sweet chanson.” Twenty-eight musicians hidden in a mammoth pie performed on various instruments, and the fine viands and wines were circulated. After the exhibition of entremets, the pheasant was brought in, the Crusade proclaimed against the Sultan, and the vows registered.

Another instance of the magnificent display of this Duke occurred when he accompanied Louis XI to Rheims for the ceremony of his coronation in 1461. This is described as follows by the Duke of Burgundy’s chronicler, Georges Chastelain (1403–75):

“Their journey resembled a triumphal procession, in which the Duke of Burgundy appeared as if he were the conqueror and Louis the illustrious captive. The trappings of the horses, that reached to the ground, were of velvet and silk, covered with precious stones and ornaments of gold, embroidered with the Burgundian arms and decorated with silver bells, the jingling of which was very agreeable and solacing. A great number of wagons draped with cloth of gold and hung with banners carried the Duke’s tapestries, furniture, silver and other table service and the utensils for the kitchen. These were followed by herds of fat oxen and flocks of sheep intended for food during the progress of the Duke and his suite. Philip and his son, with the principal nobles, appeared in their greatest magnificence, and were preceded and followed by pages, archers and men-at-arms, all in gorgeous costumes and blazing with jewels.”

Their entrance into Rheims was regarded as the most superb spectacle France had ever witnessed. Louis was crowned by the Duke of Burgundy, “the dean of the peers of France”; and at the banquet that followed the coronation, the Duke of Burgundy was still the most conspicuous figure. The same chronicler continues:

“Though the King sat at the head of the table, arrayed in regal attire, with the crown upon his head, he was still the guest of his fair uncle, whose cooks had provided the dinner, whose plate was displayed upon the sideboards and whose servants waited upon the company. In the midst of the repast, the doors were opened and porters entered bearing a costly present for the new sovereign. Such of the guests as were strangers, except from hearsay, to the splendours of the Burgundian Court, gazed in astonishment at the images, goblets, miniature ships, and other articles of the finest gold and rarest workmanship—amounting in value to more than two hundred thousand crowns—which Philip presented to the King as an emphatic token of his loyalty and good-will.”

Chastelain’s note of the great number of wagons that were required to carry the Duke’s tapestries in his journeyings is of interest. The products of the Flemish looms were highly prized by the Burgundian dukes, and great encouragement was given by them to the best work of this nature.

It was from Arras that they chiefly filled their superb store-chambers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Arras looms had become famous, far and wide; for, when Philip the Bold’s son was taken prisoner at the Battle of Nicopolis (1396), the Sultan Bajazet said to the Duke of Burgundy’s envoy that he “would be pleased to see some high-warp tapestries worked in Arras and Picardy,” and that “they should represent good old stories.” Philip thereupon sent two pack-horses laden with “high-warp cloths, collected and made at Arras, the finest that could be found on this side of the mountains.” The set he chose was The History of Alexander. In 1374, there is an entry in the accounts of the Duke of Burgundy “to Colin Bataille, tapissier et bourgeois de Paris,” for six pieces of tapestry “of Arras workmanship,” with the arms of M. the Duke of Burgundy “to cover the pack-horses of Monseigneur when he travelled.” The favourite subjects produced at Arras were romances of chivalry, such as Charlemagne and his Peers, Doon de la Roche, Baudouin de Sebourg, Percival the Gaul, Renaud de Montauban, Aubri de Bourguignon, etc.; stories from Greek mythology, such as Theseus, Jason, Paris and Helen, The Destruction of Troy, etc.; and contemporary events such as The Battle of Rosbeck, The Battle of Liège, History of Bertrand Duguesclin, The Jousts of St. Denis and The Battle of the Thirty. Hunting scenes and pictures of cavaliers and ladies in everyday life were popular, and stories from the Old and New Testaments, Lives of the Saints and Acts of the Martyrs. Allegory also makes its appearance as a subject for cartoons, such as the Virtues and Vices, the Seven Cardinal Sins, the Tree of Life, Fountain of Youth, etc.

When Philip the Good married Isabella of Portugal, Le Fèvre de Saint Rémy notes that on each side of the hall there was a dressoir twenty feet long on a platform two feet high and well enclosed by barriers three feet high, on the side of which was a little gate for entrance and exit; and both dressoirs had five stages, each two and a half feet high. The three upper tiers were covered and loaded with vessels of fine gold; and the two lower ones with many great vessels of silver gilt.

Again, Chastelain, describing a banquet given by Philip the Good, says: “The Duke had made in the great hall a dressoir constructed in the form of a round castle, ten steps (degrés) in height filled with gold plate in pots and flagons of various kinds, amounting to 6,000 marks (argent doré) not counting those on the top which were of fine gold set with rich gems of marvellous price.”

The above gives some idea of the importance of the dressoir, which undoubtedly was the most showy piece of furniture in hall or chamber. It often assumed enormous proportions on great state occasions.

A very ornate one of this period is reproduced in Plate [III]. It is beautifully carved with Gothic tracery, leaf-work, Biblical scenes and personages, and coats-of-arms. It is interesting to compare this with the simple form of Plate [IV], which has no intermediate shelf for the display of plate; but is also interesting on account of its carving. This, with its drawers and cupboards, was a most serviceable piece of furniture and must have produced a fine effect in a room when the cupboard head was decked with plate.

The great celebrations in honour of the Knights of the Golden Fleece also offered occasion for the display of the greatest splendour at the Burgundian Court. A veritable army of painters, sculptors, illuminators, carvers and machinists was employed to design and prepare the entremets exhibited during the banquets. Among the huchiers who worked for the banquet given to the Knights of the Golden Fleece in 1453 were Guillaume Maussel and his son, Jacob Haquinet Penon, Jehan Daret and his two companions, and Jehan de Westerhem.

Plate IV.—Credence (Fifteenth Century).
CLUNY MUSEUM, PARIS.

When Charles the Bold (1433–1477) succeeded his father, Philip the Good, in 1467, he maintained his Court with the same state, ceremony and luxury. His daily life was surrounded by pomp and punctilious etiquette. He dined in state every day and was always attended by a retinue of knights, equerries and pages. When he went to war, he always carried rich silver and tapestries, as well as costly viands and wines. The Swiss gained rich spoils after the Battle of Nancy and carried away among other articles of value tapestries which can be seen to-day in Nancy, Berne and other cities.

The meeting of Charles the Bold with the Emperor at Trèves, in 1473, occasioned a great display of magnificence. The far-famed luxury of the Burgundian Court was well exhibited during the eight weeks that the two Courts spent in the Rhenish city. Charles gave the most superb entertainments. The Abbey of Saint Maximin, which the Duke chose for his temporary residence, was fitted up for the occasion with furniture, tapestries, richly embroidered stuffs, gold and silver from his palaces. The great hall was hung with tapestries, and the chair of state for the Emperor, the canopy and the seats for the other great personages on the daïs were covered with rich embroidered hangings. The arms of Burgundy, the insignia of the Golden Fleece and other heraldic decorations were conspicuously displayed. Many of the most valuable ecclesiastical treasures collected by Philip the Good, such as silver images, candlesticks, and crucifixes, and reliquaries of gold studded with gems were brought to adorn the altars and shrines of the church; and, in the refectory, an immense dressoir, twenty feet broad, reached from floor to ceiling, its ten receding shelves gleaming with gold and silver plate.

Charles the Bold’s second marriage in 1468 to Margaret of York furnished another occasion for the display of his wealth and magnificence. John Paston, who went to Bruges to attend the wedding, was simply dazzled and overwhelmed by what he saw. Writing to his mother, he says: “As for the Dwkys coort, as of lords, ladys and gentylwomen, knyts, sqwyers and gentylmen, I herd never of non lyek it, save King Artourys cort. And by my trowthe, I have no wyt nor remembrans to wryte to you, half the worchep that is her.”

Passing by the descriptions of jousts and other entertainments, we may note that workmen—painters, decorators and machinists—had been engaged for many months to adorn Bruges fittingly for the nuptial festivities. The streets were hung with tapestries and cloth of gold, triumphal arches were erected at intervals, and at different points along the road the bride was diverted with “Histories,” the joint productions of dramatist, decorator, painter and machinist. The front of the palace was covered with paintings of heraldic devices and magnificent decorations, and behind the palace, in the tennis court, a new banqueting hall was erected for the occasion. This building was a hundred and forty feet long, seventy feet wide and more than sixty feet high. The walls were hung with some of the Duke’s most famous tapestries, one set of which represented Jason’s quest of the Golden Fleece; the ceiling was painted, and at every possible place banners and heraldic devices were hung. An enormous dressoir in the centre of the hall displayed on its tiers of shelves an overwhelming exhibition of gold and silver treasures glittering with gems. The tables were arranged lengthwise on either side of the hall, except one reserved for the Duke’s family and the guests of highest rank. This table was placed on a raised platform at the upper end of the hall, and over it was spread a canopy with curtains hanging to the floor, so as to present the appearance of an open pavilion. The chroniclers of the day note that “the hall was lighted by chandeliers in the form of castles surrounded by forests and mountains, with revolving paths on which serpents, dragons and other monstrous animals seemed to roam in search of prey, spouting forth jets of flame that were reflected in huge mirrors, so arranged as to catch and multiply the rays. The dishes containing the principal meats represented vessels, seven feet long, completely rigged, the masts and cordage gilt, the sails and streamers of silk, each floating in a silver lake between shores of verdure and enamelled rocks, and attended by a fleet of boats laden with lemons, olives and condiments. There were thirty of these vessels and as many huge pasties in a castellated shape with banners waving from their battlements and towers; besides tents and pavilions for the fruit, jelly dishes of crystal supported by figures of the same material dispensing streams of lavender and rosewater, and an immense profusion of gold and silver plate.”

The festivities continued for more than a week. Every day a tournament, banquet and dance took place. At one of the banquets, the decorations were so wonderful that the guests marched around the tables to examine the artistic creations. These consisted of gardens made of a mosaic-work of rare and highly polished stones, inlaid with silver, and surrounded with hedges made of gold. In the centre of each enclosure was placed a tree of gold with branches, foliage and fruit exquisitely enamelled in imitation of orange, pear, apple and other trees. Fountains of variously perfumed waters rendered the air deliciously fragrant.

Olivier de la Marche’s description of the banqueting hall is as follows:

“In this hall were three tables, one of which was placed across the ends of the others. This table, higher than the others, stood upon a platform. The other two tables were placed on the two sides of the hall, occupying the whole length; they were very long and very handsome, and in the centre of the said hall a high and rich buffet in the form of a lozenge was placed. The top of the said buffet was enclosed with a balustrade, and the whole was covered with tapestries and hung with the arms of Monsieur le Duc; and above rose the steps and degrees on which were displayed many vessels, the largest on the lowest, and the richest and smallest on the top shelves; that is to say, on the lowest shelves stood the silver-gilt vessels, and above them the vessels of gold garnished with precious stones, of which he had a great number. On the top of the buffet stood a rich jewelled cup, and on each of the four corners large and entire unicorns’ horns, and these were very large and very handsome. These vessels of parade were not to be used, for there were other vessels, pots and cups of silver in the hall and chambers intended for service.”

Turning now from the buffet d’apparat, he describes the “buffet d’usage.” Regarding the service, “The new Duchess was served by the cup-bearer, the carver and the pantler, all English, all knights and men of noble birth, and the usher of the hall cried: ‘Knights to the meat!’ And then they all went to the buffet to fetch the meat, and all the relations of Monsieur and all the knights marched around the buffet in the order of the great house two by two after the trumpeters before the meat.”

We sometimes get a glimpse of a luxurious chamber of the Burgundian Court from Aliénor of Poitiers, who wrote Les Honneurs de la Court. Her testimony is trustworthy, for her mother was maid of honour to the Duchess Isabella, third wife of Philip the Good; and, therefore, she undoubtedly witnessed what she describes. She tells us that the chamber of Isabella of Bourbon, wife of Charles the Bold, Count of Charolais, was very large and contained two beds, separated by a space four or five feet wide. A large ciel, or canopy, of green damask covered both beds; and from it hung curtains of satin which moved on rings, and could completely screen the beds when desired. The lambrequin of the canopy and the curtains were fringed with green silk. On each bed was an ermine counterpane, lined with very fine violet cloth. The chronicler expressly notes that the black tails were left on the fur. “La grande chambre” from which the “Chambre de Madame” was entered, called the “chambre de parement,” contained one large bed in crimson satin. The ciel was very richly embroidered with a great gold sun, and “this tapestry was called la chambre d’Utrecht, for it is believed that Utrecht gave it to the Duke Philip,” writes Aliénor, who adds: “The curtains of crimson samite are looped up like those of a bed in which nobody sleeps.” The hangings of the wall were of red silk. At one end of the bolster was a great square cushion of gold and crimson, and by the side of the bed a “large shaggy carpet.”

In each of these rooms there was a handsome dressoir; and our scribe continues: “In the chamber of the Countess de Charolais there was a large dressoir of four beautiful shelves, the whole length of the dressoir, each covered with a cloth; the said dressoir and the shelves filled with vessels of crystal garnished with gold and precious stones, and some of fine gold; for all the richest vessels of Duke Philip were there—pots, cups and beakers of fine gold, and other vessels that are never exhibited except on state occasions. Among other vessels there were on the said dressoir three drageoirs of gold and precious stones, one of which is estimated at 14,000 écus, and another at 30,000 écus. On the back of the dressoir was hung a dorset (dorsal) of cloth of gold and crimson, bordered with black velvet, and on the black velvet was delicately embroidered the device of Duke Philip, which was a gun....

“Item, on the dressoir which was in the chamber of the said lady, there were always two silver candlesticks which they called at Court mestiers,[^[1]] in which two lights were always burning, for it was fifteen days before the windows of her room were allowed to be opened. Near the dressoir in a corner was a little low table containing the cups and saucers in which something to drink was served to those ladies who came to see Madame, after they had been offered a dragée[^[2]]; but the drageoir stood upon the dressoir.”

[1]. Night candles.

[2]. Bonbons.

In the “chambre de parade” there stood a very large dressoir, ornamented with superb pieces of gold and silver.

It was the custom for both lords and ladies to receive their acquaintances informally in the “chambre de parade,” while the inner room was reserved for their intimate friends. On the occasion of a birth, these two rooms were as superbly furnished as the house could afford. The richest cloths and tapestries were brought out, and the dressoir was adorned with articles of gold and silver that were only placed on view on important occasions.

When Mary of Burgundy was born, the same authority informs us that Isabella of Bourbon’s room was very richly furnished; and in honour of Mary of Burgundy, the daughter and heir of Charles the Bold, there were five shelves upon the dressoir, a privilege reserved for queens only.

The drageoir was a very important article. It contained the various “épices de chambre,” generally called dragée, and meaning all kinds of sugar plums and confitures, conserves, sugared rose leaves (sucré rosat), etc. A writer in the sixteenth century mentions “Curious dragées of all colours, some in the shape of beasts, others fashioned like men, women and birds.” Sometimes the bonbons were taken with the fingers, as may be seen in one of the fine set of tapestries in the Cluny Museum, representing The Lady and the Unicorn. An attendant kneeling presents the drageoir to the lady, who is standing with a pet bird on her left arm, and she is about to dip the fingers of her right hand into the drageoir to get something to delight the bird.

The drageoir was generally handed to the guests after dinner, and made its appearance at all ceremonial feasts. Froissart, describing the reception to the English knights sent by the King of England in 1390 to negotiate peace in France, says they were entertained at the Louvre, and “when they had dined they retired to the King’s chamber, and there they were served with wine and sweetmeats in large drageoirs of silver and gold.” It was always handed with solemnity, and subject to strict etiquette. The Constable of France had the honour of presenting the drageoir to the King. At the Duke of Burgundy’s Court, according to Olivier de la Marche, the steward handed the drageoir to the first chamberlain, who handed it to the most important personage present, who then presented it to the prince or duke. When the latter had helped himself, the honoured guest returned it to the chamberlain, who gave it to the steward.

Aliénor also informs us: “When one of the princes had served Monsieur and Madame (the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy) with sweetmeats, one of the most important personages, for example, the first chamberlain, or Madame’s chevalier d’honneur, took the drageoir and served the Duke’s nephews and nieces; and after they had been served it was handed to everybody.”

The drageoir was one of the most valued and popular presents during the Middle Ages. In the inventory of Margaret of Austria occurs a beautiful and large silver-gilt drageoir, fluted, presented to Madame by the gentlemen of the town of Brussels for her New Year, 1520.

Aliénor de Poitiers also says there should always be in the lady’s room a chair with a back near the bolster of the bed; and that this chair should be covered with silk or velvet, for “velvet is the most honourable covering, no matter what colour”; and “near the chair should be placed a little bench, or stool, covered with a banquier and some silk cushions for visitors to sit on when they call to see the invalid.”

The little stool or bench, called escarbeau, was very low and without back or arms. Sometimes it was triangular in form. Sometimes it served for a low table. Rich people often threw over these bancs a piece of tapestry or silk, known as banquiers.

The memory of the vast majority of the artists of this period has perished, but a few names have survived.

When Philip the Bold built a second St. Denis for his race at Dijon (1390), his art and craftsmen were all drawn from the Low Countries. Nicholas Sluter was in charge; and under his direction the Chartreuse became a veritable Flemish museum of carving. He sent for his nephew, Nicholas van de Werve, and paid him from six to seven shillings per week. Other Flemish workmen in his employ were: Jehan Malouel, Hennequin van Prindale, Roger Westerhen, Peter Linkerk, John Hulst, John de Marville, John de Beaumetz and Williken Smout. The coloured windows were made at Mechlin, by Henry Glusomack. The oak retables with their numerous figurines, were the work of a Flemish carver named Baerze of Termonde.

In fact, the only Frenchman who had any part in the work was Berthelot Héliot, “varlet de Monseigneur,” an ivory-carver.

The two retables carved by Jacques de Baerze in 1391 for the Chartreuse are now in the Dijon Museum. One was made for the Duke’s chapel at Termonde (Dendermonde), and the other for the Abbey of Billoche, near Ghent. These were painted and gilded by Jehan Malouel and Melchior Broederlam, who had been engaged by the Counts of Flanders; and worked in Hesdin and Ypres before becoming court-painters to Philip the Bold.

The same Museum contains three cylindrical boxes of beautiful workmanship of the same period. Two of these are ornamented with arabesques and birds painted and gilded; the third is decorated with polychromatic bas-reliefs, and a round boss representing scenes from the New Testament. These boxes are supposed to have belonged to the toilet-tables of the Duchesses of Burgundy. Two retables, ornamented with bas-reliefs in the Cluny Museum are called “oratoires des Duchesses de Bourgogne.” These were bought from Berthelot Héliot, “valet de chambre” of Philip the Bold; and it is thought that they came from Italy.

Another fine piece of Flemish wood-carving is preserved in the old Salles des Gardes of the Palace in Dijon, where it forms a decoration of the chimney-piece. This is a panel of carved wood, the last remnant of the choir-stalls in the ducal chapel. The centre of the panel was the back of John the Fearless’s seat. The upper part terminating in a pointed arch and bordered with festoons ornamented with foliage surrounds the Duke’s shield, which is supported by two angels. The arms of eight dependent provinces are carved in the lower part of the panel, enlaced in a trellis of mouldings decorated with chicory leaves, and further enriched by four angels playing various instruments.

The Dijon Museum contains another splendid piece of wood-carving of the same date in the seat or forme for the accommodation of the priest, deacon, and subdeacon of the Chartreuse. This was carved in 1395 by John of Liège, a carpenter, for the sum of two hundred and fifty francs, to which another hundred were afterwards added in recognition of the excellence of the work.

The forme is a species of banc divided by arms into stalls like choir-stalls. The forme always had a back which grew larger about the end of the twelfth century, and at a later date, it was surmounted by a daïs. The forme was always considered to be a seat of honour.

John de Marville set to work on the Duke’s tomb in 1383, and in 1388 was succeeded by Claus Sluter, who also executed much important work. In the chapel of the Chartreuse at Dijon, he represented Philip the Bold and the Duchess Margaret kneeling at the feet of St. Anthony and St. Anne. In 1404, he retired to the monastery of St. Etienne de Dijon, and was succeeded in his post of “imagier and valet de chambre” to the Duke of Burgundy by his nephew Claes, or Nicholas, van de Werve.

In 1393, Philip the Bold sent his painter, Jehan de Beaumetz, and his sculptor, Claus Sluter, to see the works that his brother, the Duke of Berry, had had André Beauneveu make at the Château Mehun-sur-Yèvre.

Burgundy was especially famous among French provinces for its woodwork. Many masterpieces were created by the Dukes of Burgundy. There were, however, other patrons of this art, the great Abbeys of Clairvaux, Citeaux, Cluny and Vézélay. Numerous schools of workmen gathered around these monasteries, faithfully preserving the traditions of the master-sculptors of the past and bequeathing them to their successors of the Renaissance. A great deal of their most ornate and skilful work was naturally upon the choir-stalls. Those in the Abbey of Charlieu with figures of saints painted on wooden panels (later in the Church of Charolais), and the old Abbaye de Montréal (Yonne) are especially notable.

The Brabant artists perhaps manifested their fertility most in wood-carving. Flanders, during the fifteenth century, produced an enormous number of retables, choir-stalls, pulpits, chairs, tables, communion benches, and similar work. The energies of the skilful wood-carvers found vent in civil as well as ecclesiastical work. The public buildings of the prosperous cities contained many beautiful products of the chisel.

The ducal expense accounts that have come down to us contain many entries of payments made to various Flemish joiners and cabinet-makers (huchiers-menuisiers). When the great Halles of Brussels had to be rebuilt in 1409, the following experts were employed to do the work: Louis Van den Broec, Pierre de Staete, Henry and Godefroy den Molensleyer, Adam Steenberch, Henry van Duysbourg, Pierre van Berenberge, Henry van Boegarden and John van den Gance. We find these names employed on other contemporary work. A few years later, Charles de Bruyn executed the wood-carving for the Louvain cathedral. In 1409, John Bulteel of Courtray was commissioned to carve the choir-stalls for the chapel of the oratory of Ghent. Peter van Oost received the order for the ceiling of the town hall of Bruges; and in 1449, W. Ards was carving that of the town hall of Mechlin. In 1470, the great altar-piece of Saint Waltrude in Herentals was executed by B. van Raephorst. In 1459, the beautiful stalls of the Abbey of Tournay, which were unfortunately destroyed by fire in the following century, were carved by Jan Vlaenders.

A noted carver of this age was Jehan Malouel Hennequin van Prindale, who, as we have seen, was in the employ of the Duke of Burgundy. The hands only of a Magdalen that he made (1399–1400) are in the Dijon Museum. This statue was remarkable as having a copper nimbus, or diadem.

The fame of the Flemish wood-carvers spread far beyond the confines of their own provinces, and their services were eagerly sought in England, France, Spain, Italy and even Germany.

Although German wood-carvers were plentiful, John Floreins was employed on the choir-stalls of the Cologne Cathedral. In 1465, Flemish huchiers were called upon to carve the stalls of Rouen. Italy attracted many artists whose work still attests their ability. Among the innumerable workers in intaglio and marquetry of that period, we find the names of almost as many Northerners as native Italians. The Church of St. Georgio Maggiore, Venice, contains forty-eight stalls, adorned by Van der Brulh of Antwerp with carved bas-reliefs illustrating the life of St. Benedict. The armoires of the sacristy of Ferrara bear the signatures of Henry and William, two Flemish carvers; and many other examples might be cited.

In Spain, the entire Spanish school, until Berruguete brought the New Art from Michelangelo’s studio in 1520, was led by Philippe Vigarny, a Burgundian, who was considered the best wood-carver in Spain. His style was frankly Gothic.

The influence of the Flemish and French was so great in Spain at this time, that Juan de Arphe severely reprimands his fellow-workers, who never cease copying the “papelas y estampas flamencas y francesas.”

There was not a prosperous city in the Netherlands whose public and private buildings were not embellished with the products of the great artists in wood-carving. The great masters of Bruges were Guyot de Beaugrant, L. Glosencamp, Roger de Smet and André Rasch, sculptors and carpenters who executed the chimneypiece in the Palais du Franc in Bruges after the designs of Lancelot Blondeel.

One of the most characteristic specimens of Flemish carpentry-work of the fifteenth century is the oak pew richly carved in the Gothic style (1474), belonging to the Van der Gruuthuuse family in Notre Dame of Bruges that is connected by a passage with the Gruuthuuse Mansion, built in (1465–70).

It is important to keep constantly in mind the fact that at this period architects, sculptors, painters and goldsmiths did not confine themselves to one particular field of labour. Sculptors worked both in wood and stone in both civil and religious buildings, and the best talent was employed equally on retables, choir-stalls, pulpits, bishops’ thrones, armoires, dressoirs, chests and seats. The Duke’s accounts show many entries of payments for elaborate furniture. Two examples will suffice: “June 20, 1399: From the Duke of Burgundy to Sandom, huchier, living in Arras, for a dressoir, with lock and keys, which was placed in the chamber of our very dear and much-loved son Anthoyne, xxxii sols pariis”; and again, “To Pierre Turquet, huchier, living in the said town of Arras, for a bench, a table, a pair of trestles, and for a dressoir with lock and key for our chamber in our abode in the said place, for goods supplied by him four livres pariis.”

The fifteenth century has been called the “Golden Age of Tapestry.” Not only were the halls and chambers of rich lords hung with “noble auncyent stories,” woven in silk and wool of the most gorgeous hues and enlivened with shining threads of gold, but the store-rooms were filled with sets that were brought forth to decorate the outsides as well as the interiors of houses on the occasion of some great festival, marriage, tournament, or return of a conqueror from the wars. Wealthy princes often took valuable sets to war to decorate their tents. Charles the Bold, for example, had with him some of his richest treasures, which became the trophies of his Swiss conquerors and are now in Berne.

Owing to her wars, the industries of France had declined, and among them her tapestry. Flanders now, particularly under the patronage of the rich and powerful Dukes of Burgundy, enjoyed the greatest prosperity. Flanders became the centre of the manufacture of tapestry; and Arras, Brussels and Bruges produced works that have never been surpassed.

Every subject lent itself to reproduction. The inventory of a princely but small collector in 1406–7 mentions: A Stag in a Wood, Story of Pyramus and Thisbe, History of the God of Love, History of King Pepin, Hawking, A Lord and Lady playing at Chess, A Trapped Hare, Monkeys, Castles, Parrots, and Verdures. The latter shows how early the beautiful landscapes were valued. Throughout this century the tapestries show charming backgrounds of daisies, violets, strawberries, jessamine, primroses, bellflowers and lovely leaves often scattered in artistic disorder.

The influence of Memling and the Van Eycks and their school was insistent, although comparatively few of their pictures were translated into tapestry. One of the pupils of the Van Eycks, Roger van der Weyden, designed many cartoons, among which were the Legend of Trajan and Story of Heckenbald for the Town Hall of Brussels.

The great impetus to the Flemish looms was given by the Dukes of Burgundy. Philip the Bold (1384–1404) encouraged the weavers of Arras by giving orders and large payments in advance. Finally, he owned such a superb collection that he had a special officer, a garde de la tapisserie, to take charge of it.

Philip the Good (1419–1467) inherited this taste for beautiful tapestry and gave numerous orders to the tapestry-makers of Flanders. The inventory of his treasury made in Dijon in 1420, shows that he possessed at the beginning of his reign five chambres of tapestry, each comprising several pieces, and more than seventy high warp “storied” tapestries to ornament the halls and the chapel. Among them was a set of eleven pieces containing portraits of “the late Duke Jehan and Madame his wife on foot and on horseback,” hawking, with birds on their wrists and birds flying all around them. The same prince also had: “A red room of high-warp tapestry woven with gold, on which were represented ladies, pheasants, persons of distinction and rank, nobles, simple folk, and others, with a canopy ornamented with falcons.”

Then there was a rich “chamber,” “with high-warp tapestry of Arras thread, called the chambre of the little children, furnished with the canopy, head-board, and coverlet of a bed, worked with gold and silk, the head-board and coverlet being strewn with trees, grasses, and little children, and the canopy representing trails of flowering rose-trees on a red background.”

Another set of “high-warp tapestry, worked in Arras thread and gold” was called “The Chamber of the Coronation of Our Lady.” It was furnished with “a canopy, a head-board, a bed coverlet, and six curtains two of which were worked with gold, and the remaining four without gold. On each of these were two figures, the late Duke Anthony of Brabant and his wife and their children, screened with a small dosser; the whole was of Brabant work.”

In addition to these superb sets, there were sixty “saloon tapestries” in which the hangings woven with gold depicted scenes from famous romances, stories from Grecian mythology, pastoral scenes, and contemporary events.

There were thirty-six dossers, banquiers and thirty-six hassocks, and nineteen long-pile carpets. Then there were thirteen “chapel hangings,” with religious subjects, an altar-cloth “entirely of gold and silk,” besides high-warp tapestries “of gold and Arras thread.”

Philip the Good was also a collector of embroidery. In his inventory (1420) are mentioned many “chambres” of velvet and silk, embroidered with gold and silks. More than thirty famous embroiderers were employed regularly at the Court of Burgundy.

There was no more valuable possession in the Middle Ages than tapestry. When Mary of Burgundy was married to the Duke of Cleves in 1415, one prized item in her dowry was a “superb bed of tapestry representing a deer hunt.”

Tapestry was considered one of the most complimentary gifts that could be offered to a royal personage, or diplomatist; and when it is remembered that every nobleman of wealth was a collector, a present of this nature had to be of rare quality and exceptional beauty. The Dukes of Burgundy were fond of making gifts from the looms they patronized.

For example, Philip the Bold sent several pieces to Richard II in 1394 and 1395, and superb sets to the Dukes of Lancaster and York. John the Fearless gave the Earl of Pembroke, ambassador of Henry IV, three handsome pieces, and to the Earl of Warwick, ambassador of Henry V, in 1416, “a rich hanging covered with various figures and numerous birds.” In 1414, a “chambre de tapisserie” was sent as a present to Robert, Duke of Albany, who then governed Scotland.

The weavers of Liège boasted as high an antiquity as those of Louvain. The Chronicle of St. Trond says that the weavers in 1133 at St. Trond and Tongres, and they were more independent and high-spirited, or, to quote more exactly, “more forward and proud than other artisans.”

Brussels, which in after years eclipsed both Paris and Arras in the manufacture of tapestries, possessed one corporation only of tapestry-workers (tapitewevers) in 1340. In 1448, these were reorganized under the name of Legwerckers Ambacht (tapestry-weavers trade), but there was no great interest in the Brussels looms until 1466, when Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, bought in that city The History of Hannibal in six pieces and a set of eight landscapes.

The looms of Ypres, Middelburg, Alost, Lille, Valenciennes, Douay and Oudenarde flourished during the fifteenth century. To this list we must add the fine looms of Bruges, established by Philip the Good, which for a time eclipsed all others in Flanders. After Bruges supplied this Duke of Burgundy with The History of the Sacrament and “two chambers of tapestry” in 1440, many commissions were received from foreign countries. The Medicis and other Italian families ordered rich sets, but they supplied their own cartoons by Andrea Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci and other great painters.

Bruges, doubtless, owed no little of its fame as a centre for fine tapestry to the Flemish artists, Memling and the Van Eycks and their school who lived there. It is believed that the famous tapestry that found a home in the Château des Aygalades, representing the marriage of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany, under the allegorical figures of Esther and Ahasuerus, was made in Bruges. The cartoons have been attributed to the school of Van Eyck.

In 1449–53, Philip ordered from Tournay The History of Gideon and The Story of the Golden Fleece in eight pieces.

In 1430, one Jean Hosemant, a tapestry-weaver of Tournay, was in Avignon and the Pope’s chamberlain, the Archbishop of Narbonne, ordered him to make “a tapestried chamber on the hangings of which were to be represented foliage, trees, meadows, rivers and clouds, as well as birds and quadrupeds.” Italy also attracted the French and Flemish weavers to learn their secrets, and they flocked in numbers to Rome and other cities. Their work was in such demand that the Flemish workers found encouragement everywhere; and in the fifteenth century they emigrated to England, Spain, Italy and even Hungary.

Rinaldo Boteram of Brussels was in charge of the workshop in the court of the Gonzagas in Mantua, where Andrea Mantegna was employed to design the cartoons. Jehan de Bruges and Valentin d’Arras directed the workshops in Venice as early as 1421; Giacomo d’Angelo the Fleming had charge of the Marquis d’Este’s tapestries at Ferrara with a large number of Flemish weavers under him. Flemish workmen and master workmen were engaged in Siena, Florence, Correggio, Urbino and also by the Sforzas in Milan.

A woman was also weaving Arras at Todi in 1468, one Giovanna Francesa, “maestra di panni de arazzi.”

At home, the Flemings grew ever more and more realistic, weaving into their woollen pictures types of character, costumes and scenes with which they were familiar; and while their technical skill was appreciated in Italy, their pictures certainly were not liked. All the orders sent from princely patrons to the looms of the Low Countries were accompanied by cartoons, which became the property of the workshop, and were repeated again and again as their popularity asserted itself. The Italians introduced perspective, clearness of grouping and a dramatic feeling entirely opposed to the Flemish school. The Italian cartoons, particularly those of Raphael and Romano, had a great influence upon the Flemish tapestries.

Like all the other industrial arts, that of the goldsmith flourished under the patronage of the Dukes of Burgundy. They spent an enormous amount of money in acquiring fine pieces of gold and silver and richly set jewels for their own treasury and use, and to give as presents. It was not long before the chief cities in Burgundy, Artois and Flanders saw the workshops of gold and silversmiths multiply greatly and gain a widespread reputation. These goldsmiths not only produced vases and chalices for the churches and chapels and beautiful articles for the Duke’s dressoirs, but they particularly excelled in the setting of jewels and in making beautiful pieces of delicately worked gold and silver, with which the costumes were laden to such an extent that Martial d’Auvergne, the author of Arrets d’amour, says “on s’harnachoit d’orfévrerie.”

Some of the Duke’s silver is especially described in his inventory, and among his possessions at the end of the fourteenth century, we find two silver chandeliers for the chapel. The central bulbs were fluted and they were hung with crystal. On the foot, the arms of France were engraved. There were also three other chandeliers (these were evidently what we should now rather call candlesticks), and were carved profusely with big leaves; and also three candlesticks of silver for the “fruiterie,” bearing on the base the arms of the Duke of Burgundy. The foot of another silver-gilt candlestick was decorated with three dragons; another candlestick of white silver (argent blanc) was decorated with the arms of the Dowager Countess of Hainault. In all probability these were among the candlesticks that Charles the Bold took to the Abbey of St. Maximin.

Among the artisans that were patronized by the Dukes of Burgundy, we find the names of Jehan Villain, a goldsmith of Dijon from 1411 to 1431, and valet de chambre to John the Fearless and Philip the Bold; Jehan Pentin, goldsmith of Bruges under Philip the Good; Corneille de Bonte, a celebrated goldsmith of Ghent; and Henry le Backer of Brussels and Gérard Loyet, both goldsmiths of Charles the Bold. The former executed a famous altar group for the Count of Charolais (Charles the Bold) in 1456, consisting of a great cross at the foot of which knelt the Count and Countess of Charolais with St. George and St. Elizabeth. Gérard Loyet, who was goldsmith and valet de chambre to Charles the Bold, made in 1466 a statue of gold that the Duke presented to the Cathedral of St. Lambert of Liège. He also made in the year of Charles the Bold’s death two silver busts and two statues of that Duke. The busts, of natural size, were made for St. Adrien de Grammont and St. Sebastian of Brussels and the statues for Notre Dame d’Ardembourg and Notre Dame de Grâce of Brussels. The latter, although of silver, were coloured and were large in size. They represented Charles kneeling with folded hands dressed in armour with sword at his side and wearing the collar of the Golden Fleece.

There is very little furniture of the fourteenth and fifteenth century in existence. One of the few good buildings dating from the fourteenth century is the Guildhouse of the Tanners (Toreken) on the Rue des Peignes, Ghent. The Rijks Museum in Amsterdam has a copy of the solid oak ceiling of the Senate House at Sluis, dating from 1396, an imitation of the ceiling and chimney of the Senate House at Zwolle, built by the architect Berent in 1447; and a cast of an ornamental fireplace of the fifteenth century from the Markiezenhof at Bergen-op-Zoom. The Rijks also owns several Gothic cabinets, and a large Gothic cupboard of the fourteenth century from a convent in Utrecht. The Museum in the Steen, Antwerp, contains some good fifteenth century furniture.

A few names of wood-carvers of this period have survived. For example, the Town Hall of Louvain, the ancient capital of Brabant, is a very rich and lovely example of late Gothic work. It even surpasses the famous Town Halls of Brussels, Oudenarde, Ghent and Bruges. This was built by Matthew de Layens between 1447 and 1463. It is very rich in statues of local celebrities, and the supporting corbels are ornamented with almost detached reliefs representing biblical subjects.

The models in wood for the stone-cutters were executed after the designs of De Layens, by John Vander Eycken, Goswin Van der Voeren, Mathew Keldermans and John Roelants in 1448.

In decorative art, the Gothic style is feebly represented by great names that have survived. Most of the glorious work that was done by the Mediaeval carvers has perished, and the names of its producers have perished with it. Two names, of the period immediately before the Renaissance, of men who applied themselves to the composition and engraving of ornaments have survived. Le Maître à la Navette was born at Zwott; and was at work about 1475. Alart du Hameel was a native of Bois-le-Duc; and lived at the close of the fifteenth century.

CHAPTER III
THE RENAISSANCE: PART I

Dawn of the Renaissance—The Transitional Period—Coffers and Bahuts—Court of Margaret of Austria—Perréal’s Style—Margaret’s Tomb by Perréal—Taste of the Regent—Margaret’s Tapestries, Carpets, Table-covers and Cushions—Her Curios—Flemish Tapestries—Cartoons by Bernard Van Orley—William de Pannemaker—English Tapestries—Last Days of the Gothic Style—Guyot de Beaugrant, Lancelot Blondeel and Peter Pourbus—Stalls in the Groote Kerk, Dordrecht—Carvings in Haarlem—Invasion of the Renaissance—Walnut, the Favourite Wood for Furniture and Carving—Versatility of the Artists—the Fleming as Emigrant—the Renaissance in Burgundy—Hugues Sambin—Sebastian Serlio—Peter Coeck of Alost—Pupils of Peter Coeck—Lambert Lombard—Francis Floris, the “Flemish Raphael”—the Craze for Numismatics—Hubert Goltzius—Cabinets of the Sixteenth Century—Italian Furniture—Characteristic Features of Renaissance Furniture—Ornaments: the Arabesque, Pilaster, Cartouche, Cuirs, Banderole and Caryatid—Publications of Decorative Design—Alaert Claes, Lucas van Leyden, Cornelis Bos and Martin van Heemskerck.

As in all other departments of human taste, thought and activity, there is no sudden change in Decorative Art, no swift rupture with old traditions. There is a period of transition, during which one style supplants another almost imperceptibly. Even when one great genius arises, he meets with opposition from the members of the old school; and it takes years for his ideas finally to triumph. Moreover, periods overlap: in one district the old style will persist half a century after the new is firmly established in another. Again, even in the same town, we sometimes find the two streams flowing side by side for some time. This is true of the Renaissance, as of all other styles. We even find that a palace within a space of ten years’ time might be begun in the Gothic and completed in the Renaissance style.

When Charles the Bold received his deathblow on the field of Nancy, a new era was dawning. The arts that had been fostered by the splendid Dukes of Burgundy already felt the impetus of a new movement. It was a period of momentous changes. Printing had already been invented, and designs for title-pages alone were to have a tremendous effect on Decorative Art. America was shortly to be discovered, and before long exotic woods were to end the exclusive sway of walnut and oak. Above all, Italy was to be practically rediscovered by Western Europe. Although many courts benefited by the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, the luxurious Italian states received by far the greater number of skilled artisans who brought with them the traditions of Classic Art. The maritime republics were, moreover, no strangers to the art products of the gorgeous East; and Venice especially then held almost a monopoly of the Levant trade, and distributed Oriental wares to France, Germany, England and the Netherlands.

The days of Feudalism had come to an end: Mediaevalism was dead. Wars of petty piracy and private spite ended almost simultaneously in Western Europe; wars of national competition in trade and bitter wars of religion were to succeed. In England, the Wars of the Roses were extinguished in 1485: the last private battle between the retainers of feudal lords was fought in 1483. In France, Louis XI, after the death of Charles the Bold, had reduced his other great vassals to order. In Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella had expelled the Moors and married their mad daughter, Joanna, to the heir of the Burgundian dominions, the issue of this marriage being Charles V, who was born at Ghent in 1500. In 1494, Charles VIII had crossed the Alps; and in Italy the French were as dazzled by the luxury and magnificence they saw as the Crusaders had been at Byzantium four centuries before. On their return, the Renaissance in France and the Netherlands may be said to have begun to bloom.

Before the opening of the sixteenth century, however, there was a remarkable activity in all the arts; and a coming change can be felt. The spirit of the Gothic and of the Classic style—Christian and Pagan—were already at war. In the Low Countries, this transitional period is noticeable during the last days of the House of Burgundy. Simultaneously, architecture and ornament insensibly underwent modifications, in which we recognize the earliest Renaissance, as it appeared also in France under the reign of Louis XII. Building and furniture have already become Classic in form and general aspect: the antique column becomes a leading feature of decoration, although the pilaster, which offers a convenient flat surface for the carving of arabesques, is often preferred. These arabesques are particularly characteristic of this transitional period. They consist of rather slender and simple branches, allowing considerable spaces of the background to appear; and very frequently they are divided into two symmetrical parts about a strongly accented middle axis. There is little relief and little projection in the composition. The details of ornamentation are taken especially from the floral world; and, if human figures or animals are used, they are attenuated and expressionless, and play an unimportant rôle. Figures of this description appear in Plate [V] that represents a coffer in carved wood in the Flemish style, from the Cluny Museum, Paris. The panel in the centre represents the Annunciation, rudely carved. Pilasters decorated with leaves separate it from two niches that contain figures boldly but crudely carved. Above the Annunciation is a lock of fine workmanship, the flap of which bears the figure of the crowned Virgin, in high relief.

Another typical coffer, or huche, of Flemish workmanship of the sixteenth century appears on Plate [VI]. Here we have three panels separated by caryatides. The subjects of the panels are Christ on the Cross, the Annunciation, and the Adoration of the Infant Jesus. The panels are also decorated with the heads of cherubs.

Another huche, or bahut, of the sixteenth century, of more delicate workmanship, is shown in Plate [VII]. The subject of the central panel is taken from the story of David. Allegorical figures decorate the pilasters, and Mercury and Cybele fill the niches. This is also from Cluny and is of French work of the sixteenth century.

Plate V.—Coffer in Flemish Style.
CLUNY MUSEUM, PARIS.

The Renaissance was too strong a movement not to carry everything before it; but it must not be imagined that it met with no opposition. There were people in high places who clung obstinately to the old order of things and resented innovations. Gothic art was still supreme under the short rule of Mary of Burgundy; but her daughter Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, had to face the new ideas, and found it hard to reconcile herself with them, notwithstanding her encouragement of the arts as a whole. She kept a brilliant court, and she and her husband, Philibert of Savoy, warmly encouraged genius and talent. She gathered around her more than one hundred and fifty painters, sculptors, architects and decorators in all branches of art.

On the death of her husband she was inconsolable; and planned a splendid church in which his and her remains should finally rest side by side. In 1505, she intrusted the planning of the work to Jean Perréal. In an early letter, he writes to her that he is delighted to undertake the work, and will take advantage of all he has observed regarding convents in Italy, where the most beautiful in all the world are to be found. In another letter, in 1509, we read: “Jy me suis mis après tant pour mon devoir envers nostre Majesté que pour l’amour que je vous doy, et ay revyré mes pour-traictures, au moins des choses antiques que j’ay eues ès parties d’Italie, pour faire de toutes belles fleurs ung trossé bouquet, dont j’ai monstré le jet au dict Le Maire.”

The Flemish character of Peréal’s early style had undoubtedly made him acceptable to the Regent. During her residence in France, from 1483 to 1493, she had then been subjected to no other than Flemish influence in art. The Italian taste had not yet reached Paris. But Perréal crossed the Alps with Charles VIII in 1495; Louis XII went into Italy in 1502, and again in 1509. We are thus on the threshold of the Renaissance. Perréal, as the above quotation shows, instead of remaining true to the memories of his Flemish education, wanted to seek adventures in the domain of Italian art. He had the temerity to offer to Margaret for her tombs a bunch of his troussés bouquets. She was scandalized, and broke off all relations with the erring artist. She looked around her for an artist who conformed to the principles of Flemish art, one who would not be likely to betray national traditions for foreign modes. Her choice fell upon a master mason named Louis van Beughem to build the great church of Brou. A member of one of the corporations of St. Luke, faithful to Gothic art, van Beughem produced a work that shows that style in its latest development and decadence. He showed so much zeal and ability that Margaret forced him to take charge of not only the masonry, but of the woodwork and windows too. With him were associated John of Brussels for the decorative work, and Conrad Meyt for the carving. Conrad of Mechlin was Margaret’s favourite “image-maker.” She paid him the generous salary of five sous a day. She paid her head cook twenty-six. Conrad carved the choir-stalls and other woodwork that demanded decorative treatment. He also executed all the great sculptural work on the tombs, including the life-size figures of Philibert of Savoy, Margaret’s dead spouse, and herself, represented both alive and dead, Margaret of Bourbon, ten children, a couching lion and many armorial devices.

Plate VI.—Flemish Coffer or Huche.
CLUNY MUSEUM, PARIS.

This instance is interesting as showing that the greatest abilities in that age were applied to the smallest matters of art as well as the greatest. Among the objects for which Conrad was paid in 1518–19, we find two Hercules in wood, and two portraits of the princess in wood (for these he received eight Philippus in all), a wooden turret for the Regent’s cabinet and a carved stag’s head for her library chimney-piece.

Margaret’s tastes are easily learned from the inventory she drew up with her own hand of her possessions in Mechlin shortly before her death. She seems to have cared almost exclusively for paintings, rich embroideries and curios. She made a complete list of her pictures, many of which were undoubtedly painted to please her by the artists of her Court. Among her embroideries were a great number of handsome ecclesiastical vestments and a few coifs, belts and gorgets for herself embroidered with gold thread “à la mode d’Espagne.” The greater number of her tapestries, bed-hangings, cases for cushions, table-covers and serviettes, etc., to adorn the shelves of dressoirs were from Spain. Her tapestries are worth noting. She had two pieces woven of gold, silver and silk, representing the history of Alexander the Great, which came from Spain; four pieces, representing the story of Esther, also of gold, silver and silk, also from Spain; three pieces of gold and silk depicting the life of the Cid; two of the Seven Sacraments, another of Alexander; and four of Saint Helena. In addition to these Spanish tapestries, she had six pieces called the “Cité des Dames,” presented to her by the city of Tournay when she went there to meet the King of England.

The gift of the Cité des Dames may perhaps have made some atonement for her vexation at having to attend that splendid meeting of the King and Emperor. She was very unwilling to go, and wrote to her father Maximilian, on September 22, 1513, as follows:

“If you think it necessary for me to go and I can be of service to you, I am ready to do all that it pleases you to order, but otherwise, it is not the part of a widow woman to trotter and visit armies for pleasure.”

She also owned seventeen rich Spanish velvet carpets. Among her chamber-hangings, bed-hangings, and canopies were several articles made of rich cloth of gold, bordered with crimson and embroidered with the arms and device of the “late King of Aragon.”

She had a camp (or folding) bed with hangings of cloth of gold richly embroidered with gold thread and silk, and a canopy for a camp bed covered with cloth of gold and trimmed with a fringe of black silk and gold threads; and she also owned four large pieces of cloth of gold, each differently bordered, to decorate her throne, and also one of green velvet. She had two curtains of green and grey tafetas, and four of crimson tafetas, a number of pieces of cloth of gold, four hangings for a chamber of green velvet and white damask, and two palls, one of white silk embroidered with gold, and the other gold, green, red and white; and the furnishing of a camp bed with canopy, counterpane and three curtains of green tafetas lined with black. Margaret did not despise leather hangings, for she had several pieces of “tapestry of red morocco” each 4½ ells long and just as wide, trimmed with bands of green brightened with gold, and three other pieces of “red morocco” with gilded bands. These probably came from Spain.

Plate VII.—Huche, or Bahut (Sixteenth Century).
CLUNY MUSEUM, PARIS.

A “pavilion” of grey and yellow silk threads “as a protection against the flies,” shows how early the mosquito net was known.

We should also note “packs for mules in the Spanish style,” covered with cloth of gold and silver.

Among her table-covers was one of cloth of gold and white with trimmings of crimson velvet embroidered and fringed with gold, and one of cloth of gold with a crimson satin border.

The collection of “serviettes” were exquisitely embroidered with gay coloured silks and gold threads. Some of them were trimmed with silk borders and some with narrow fringe. One, for instance, was embroidered with violet, and adorned with a violet fringe; another was embroidered in silver, blue, flesh-colour, crimson and green and had a little fringe of red, blue and gold. The two dozen beautiful cushions were of cloth of gold with gold tassels; of gold and blue lozenges; and embroidered in variously coloured silks.’

The choice articles in her cabinet included three fine pieces of amber; a branch of coral in a wooden box; four other branches of coral; a piece of coral shaped like a horn; a little silver box with two coral images; a little parfumador of silver for scent-balls; a little Spanish fan, beautifully made; a little gilded St. George in a black leather case; a little agate salt-cellar with a gilded foot; three spoons—one of mother-of-pearl with a silver handle, the others of cornelian with handles of chalcedony; a picture of St. Mark on canvas; two East India boxes; a pair of East Indian slippers; a piece of violet silk; a little retable, containing an image of Notre Dame and St. Joseph; another, with a hawthorn in blossom; a little paradise with all the apostles represented; a lacquer box garnished with silver; a little silver cage; two tablets of wood framing pictures; two clocks, the larger one striking the hours and half hours; a Saint Margaret made in the likeness of Mlle. de Mon-Lambert; a little crying child painted by a good artist; the Emperor’s face in black and white; the little Duke of Milan on canvas; an Annunciation on canvas; a Saint Anthony made by Master Jacques; a little ivory picture given to Madame by M. de Chièvres; the face of the Duke Philip; a silver gilt picture of the Annunciation with two leaves of porcelain, portraits of the late King Philip and Queen Joanna, his wife; a Notre Dame in amber; a beautiful steel mirror; a Notre Dame of alabaster; a round piece of alabaster in which a lion is cut; and several sets of chess, of silver, silver-gilt, ivory, carved wood, ivory and wood; a set in jasper wrapped in a flag; and a set of chalcedony and jasper in an old painted box. She also had two dice-boxes, one gilt and one ivory. She also owned a good deal of curious needlework; two steel mirrors, one framed in silver gilt; and a netted purse of green and silver, marked with a unicorn.

Margaret was by no means peculiar in her liking for sumptuous tapestries. The walls of every palace, castle and mansion of the day were adorned with rich hangings, and these products of the Flemish looms were sought by prince and prelate throughout Europe.

Although Flanders continued to produce the most important sets of tapestry during the sixteenth century, and cartoons were supplied by the Flemish artists, Bernard van Orley, Michel Coxie and Peter of Campana, and the French artists, Primaticcio, Matteo del Nassaro, Caron and Lerambert, by far the greater number of designs came from Italy. Paul Veronese, Titian, Pordenone, Salviati, A. del Sarto, Bronzino, Giovanni da Udine, Giulio Romano and Raphael are among the most prolific designers; and in the tapestries after their cartoons, the grouping and distribution of the figures as well as the colouring (that requires much more shading) differ greatly from the works of the past. The borders are also more varied; instead of being decorated only with fruits and flowers tied with ribbons, other motives are introduced—birds, nude children, fishes, crustaceans, vegetables, emblems, quivers, masks, grotesques, etc., etc.

Most of these fine sets were made in Brussels to order; but many tapestries were made there and sold in Antwerp. If Brussels was the workshop of Europe, Antwerp was the mart. In this city, where all kinds of merchandise abounded, Guicciardini informs us that more than a thousand foreign merchants had established themselves and exhibited for sale to the eyes of purchasers the fine tapestries made in Brussels. There was a special place, “Le Pand, halle aux tapisseries, where many beautiful and marvellous inventions and works were exhibited and sold.”

Regarding the Brussels tapestries, the same old traveller tells us:

“Especially admirable and yielding great profit, is the trade of the tapestry-makers, who weave, design and warp pieces in high warp in silk, gold and silver, at great expense, and with an industry that wins everybody’s admiration and wonder.”

During the sixteenth century, the looms of Flanders enjoyed great vogue and received orders from all the princes of Europe. When the merchants of Florence wished to enrich the Church of St. John with tapestry, they sent to Flanders; when Francis I, who possessed some magnificent pieces of Flemish tapestry, wanted to make a present to the Pope, he had twelve scenes from the Life of Christ made at Arras, from cartoons by Raphael; and from 1518–39 there are many entries in the accounts of the Treasury of France for sums paid for Flemish tapestries for the King. As there was no manufactory for high-warp tapestry in France, Francis I decided to establish one in Fontainebleau in 1539, and gathered there fifteen skilled Flemish workmen whom he placed under the direction of Philibert Babou, Sieur de la Bourdaizière, and Sebastian Serlio, the Italian architect.

Throughout the Renaissance, tapestry was regarded on a level with painting. The Pope, the Doges of Venice and the wealthy families—the D’Estes, the Medicis and Sforzas—made superb collections and decorated their halls with splendid hangings. The greater number of these were made in Flanders, although a few lords—the D’Estes and Sforzas, for example—had looms of their own, worked by Flemings.

Subjects from mythology, the Scriptures and martyrology are still popular, but scenes from the old romances of chivalry are banished. Valiant princes and prosperous cities make use of the weaver’s art to commemorate their victories and triumphs, and many gorgeous sets depicting current events are hung in mansions, villas, and town halls. Antwerp, for example, orders The Course of the Scheldt for her Town Hall. Flanders also makes such pieces as The Hunts of Maximilian, Battle of Pavia, Victories of the Duke of Alva, Destruction of the Armada, The Deliverance of Leyden in 1574, The Defeat of the Spaniards by the Zealanders, Genealogy of the Princes of Nassau, etc.

Brussels produced the famous set of ten, The Acts of the Apostles, ordered by Leo X in 1515. The cartoons, for which Raphael received 100 ducats each (£200), were sent to Peter van Aelst, the most noted tapestry-worker in Flanders. The Pope paid him 15,000 gold ducats (£30,000) for the set. Peter van Aelst was varlet de chambre and weaver to Philippe le Beau, in 1504, and later to his son, Charles V. Bernard van Orley, a pupil of Raphael, was associated with him in the production of The Acts of the Apostles, which were hung in the Sistine Chapel, December 26, 1519. In 1549, Vasari wrote of them: “One is astonished at the sight of this series; its execution is marvellous. One can hardly imagine how it was possible, with simple threads, to produce such delicacy in the hair and beards, and to express the suppleness of flesh. It is a work more Godlike than human; the waters, the animals and the habitations are so perfectly represented that they appear painted with a brush and not woven.”

Another beautiful set, The Loves of Vertumnus and Pomona, now in Madrid, was also made by Flemish weavers from Italian cartoons; and were bought by Charles V in Antwerp, before 1546.

Bernard van Orley designed The Grand Hunts of Guise, or of Maximilian, formerly attributed to Dürer. In these realistic pictures of costume, landscape and national types, there is a return to the Flemish disregard for perspective and grouping.

Mention should be made of the famous Lucas Months, long believed to be the work of Lucas van Leyden, but certainly by a Flemish artist. These were frequently copied at the Gobelins. In the month “January” a superb sideboard is represented.

A very celebrated tapestry-worker, William de Pannemaker, was commissioned by Charles V to weave The Conquest of Tunis, the cartoons for which were made by Jan Vermay, or Vermeyen, of Beverwyck, near Haarlem. Although eighty-four workers were employed, it took five years to complete it.

Pannemaker also made The Victories of the Duke of Alva.

What the principal centres of tapestry were, we learn from an edict of Charles V, in 1544, that says: “It is forbidden to manufacture tapestries outside of Brussels, Louvain, Antwerp, Bruges, Oudenarde, Alost, Enghien, Binche, Ath, Lille, Tournay and other free towns, where the craft is organized and regulated by ordinances.”

Holland also produced tapestry in this century. Looms were set up in Middelburg in 1562; and later in Delft, where Franz Spierinck worked.

A little tapestry was produced in Italy, but even there the greater number of weavers were Flemings. Two Flemish tapestry-workers, Nicholas and John Karcher, were employed by the Duke d’Este, at his court in Ferrara; and Cosmo I employed Nicholas Karcher and John Rost of Brussels at his establishment, the “Arazzeria Medicea,” in Florence.

The store-rooms of royalty and nobles in England were filled with superb sets that were brought out for decoration on occasions. Most of these were imported from the Continent; but towards the end of Henry VIII’s reign, William Sheldon orders one Robert Hicks to make maps of Oxford, Worcester, Gloucester and Warwick counties at his manor in Warwickshire, and calls Hicks “the only auteur and beginner of tapestry and arras within this realm.”

Returning now to the consideration of furniture as an architectural accessory, we find that Margaret of Austria’s tastes were shared by many of her contemporaries. The Gothic style lingered here and there far into the sixteenth century, and even those whose sympathies were frankly in favour of the Renaissance did not entirely cast away Gothic traditions. (See Plate [X].)

For example, let the student examine the beautiful choir of St. Gertrude in Louvain. The stalls are adorned with statuettes and twenty-eight reliefs of scenes from the lives of Our Lord, of St. Augustine, and of the patron saint, Gertrude. The ornamentation recalls the last days of the Gothic style. The work ranks among the finest examples of wood-carving in Belgium. It was executed by Mathias de Waydere, of Brussels in 1550.

Mechlin was the capital of the Netherlands while Margaret was Regent. Her palace, now the Palais de Justice, shows both the old and new styles. The older parts date from 1507, and were built in the late Gothic style by Rombout Keldermans. Before the palace was finished, in 1517, a French architect, Guyot de Beaugrant, was associated with Rombout in the work. This part of the palace is the oldest Renaissance building in Belgium.

It is somewhat puzzling to reconcile Margaret’s preference for Gothic art with the fact that her own palace shows a halting between two opinions. It may be that she merely drew the line between civil and ecclesiastical edifices, and would welcome in a palace, or town hall, decorations that she would exclude from a church.

Oudenarde, the birthplace of Margaret’s grandniece, who was also to be Regent of the Netherlands, contains work that marks this transitional period. The doorway of the Council Chamber in the Town Hall is a splendid piece of Renaissance wood-carving, executed by Paul van Schelden in 1531; and a fine chimney-piece carved in the Flamboyant style only two years earlier. Another late Gothic chimney-piece, by his brother Peter, is in the Salle des Pas Perdus.

Guyot de Beaugrant was the architect who executed the most famous and important monument of this period. This is the chimney-piece of the Palais de Justice at Bruges. Of all the productions of this kind that the sixteenth century has bequeathed to us, and they are numerous, none is more remarkable, either for its dimensions or the beauty of the work. Its general effect is imposing, and its masses are distributed with that feeling for effect that reveals the man of genius.

The lower part is of black marble with four reliefs in white marble on the frieze, representing the story of Susanna and the Elders. The painter, Lancelot Blondeel of Bruges, supplied the designs for the upper part, which is of carved oak. The statues represent Charles V as Count of Flanders, Mary of Burgundy and her spouse, Maximilian, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, all ancestors of Charles. Busts of his parents, Philip and Joanna, adorn the throne; and on two small medallions are Margaret herself and Launoy the commander at Pavia.

As for the details, pilaster, figurines, bas-reliefs, shields, medallions, trophies of arms, etc., everything is of incomparable finish, and the art of wood-carving has never been so boldly pushed to its uttermost expression. This occupies nearly the entire side of the Court Room and was made in memory of the Battle of Pavia and the Peace of Cambrai, by which the independence of Flanders was recognized. This masterpiece was begun in 1529; it was completed in 1530, the year of Margaret’s death.

Lancelot Blondeel, of Poperinghe, was essentially a painter of the transition period. He was a man of most extraordinary gifts, being at the same time a painter, sculptor, mason and engineer. Besides painting, he designed several masterpieces of sculpture in addition to this celebrated Cheminée du Franc. He was also a wood-engraver, and made drawings for the glass painters and tapestry-workers. In 1546, moreover, he submitted plans to the magistracy of Bruges for a canal to connect that city with the sea. He gave his daughter in marriage to Peter Pourbus, the last of the great painters of the school of Bruges. Pourbus was as versatile as his father-in-law, and was intrusted by the city with the organization of public festivals and rejoicings. He dabbled a little in architecture, engineering and cartography.

Works of the early Renaissance are rarer in Holland than in Flanders; but Holland possesses one of the most remarkable carvings of the sixteenth century, the stalls of the Groote Kerk in Dordrecht done by Jan Terween Aertsz, of Antwerp, in 1538–42. Four years only were required to carve this great allegory. These stalls, of magnificent proportions, are divided into two sections: one, at the side of the altar, consists of thirty stalls in two tiers. This is the most richly treated, being intended for the clergy. The sides on the passageways are most elaborately carved. The second section is much simpler and has no separate seats. It is intended for the choristers. No work in the Low Countries surpasses this. The spectator is first attracted by the superb construction and handsome outlines, but it is only when the details are examined that the work is fully appreciated. The dazzled eye notes such a profusion of ornamental figures and motives that it would be hard to find their equal. The only carvings in the Netherlands that can be compared with them are the choir-stalls in the cathedral at Ypres, made in 1598, but these have not quite the same distinction in execution. The first carvings one notes are the friezes in relief above the seats and under the graceful little columns that adorn the back. The subjects of these bas-reliefs are the Triumph of Christ; the Triumph of the Eucharist; Scenes from the Old and New Testament; the Triumphal Procession of Mutius Scaevola; and the Triumphal Entry of Charles V in Dordrecht, on July 21, 1540. The cycle of the Triumph of Christ opens with two archangels with trumpets, announcing the King of Kings; then follow Adam and Eve, Noah with the Ark, Moses with the Tables of the Law, Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, David with his harp, Jonah, Samson with the lion, Elias and John the Baptist—all prototypes of Christ. Then come the twelve apostles with palm branches, and Christ in a triumphal car, decorated with dragons’ heads and richly ornamented with the symbols of the Cross and dove, and drawn by symbols personifying the four Evangelists. Chained to Christ’s car is Death, accompanied by the monster Sin, swallowed by the colossal open jaws of Hell, in which the Devil is seen riding. Lastly, come Mary and the four saints, Catherine, Barbara, Lawrence and Christopher.

The Triumph of the Eucharist opens with choristers and other children singing, followed by Franciscan monks, nuns, canons, deacons, deans, the Fathers of the Church—Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose and Gregory, then the Church in a triumphal chariot with the Holy Sacrament, then the Pope, cardinals and bishops. The procession of Mutius Scaevola is, of course, Roman in character, and consists, likewise, of eight panels. The Triumph of Charles V resembles in some respects the Triumph of Maximilian by Dürer (Dürer visited the Low Countries in 1520). Two cavaliers with trumpets open the march and are followed by three others; then comes a grandee of Spain with the orb of the Empire, his horse led by pages. Other grandees follow, then the imperial train, guided by allegorical virgins, and the Emperor, seated under a baldaquin in a richly-decorated chariot, with the palm of peace in his left, and the sceptre in his right hand. The sword and orb of state lie at his feet.

Some of the terminal figures on the ends of the stalls are very fine, particularly Matthew, Luke, David, Solomon and Daniel in the lions’ den. The heads and busts that are developed out of the foliage are of exceptional interest. The miséricordes (seats) are decorated with humorous and Biblical scenes. The luxuriant foliage that forms no little part of the ornamentation is in the style of the first Italian Renaissance and in many places is mingled with musical instruments, heads, fruits, figurines, children and coats-of-arms.

Terween is supposed to have been born in Dordrecht, in 1511. He died in 1598. For other Gothic carved work during the early Renaissance the student may go to the Groote Kerk of Haarlem. This is also especially interesting on account of its transitional features; for while the magnificent choir-stalls and rood-screen still retain the Gothic character (the screen was erected in 1540 by Diderik Sybrandszoon, of Mechlin, and bears several municipal coats-of-arms), the side railings of the inner choir are in the style of the early Renaissance. A remarkable example of Mediaeval carved oak, called the “H. Geest Stoel,” is also preserved in this church.

The church of St. Nicolas, at Dixmuiden, also contains a splendid rood-loft carved in the richest Flamboyant style, dating from about 1520.

The Gothic period, therefore, practically ended at the close of the fifteenth century. The Renaissance restored Greek and Latin taste. In furniture, it followed the forms and ornaments of architecture, as the Gothic had done; so that now, instead of pointed arches with trefoils, quatrefoils, or flamboyant tracery, we have pediments and various Orders with their columns, capitals, arcades and superpositions of colonnades.

After the transitional period, during which the Decorative Arts freed themselves from the domination of ecclesiastical influence and acquired individuality of form, we find a rapid development during the sixteenth century. The Renaissance quickly passed through its stages of growth in the styles of Louis XII and François I, and burst into full bloom in the Henri II style.

Before the invasion of the new school, Gothic tracery quickly disappears; and with all the wealth of decoration, cartouches, mascarons of gods, heroes, nymphs, etc., in order to produce the proper effect and the correct massing of details, it becomes necessary to submit furniture to the rules of Classic architecture; and furniture, therefore, breaks with all traditions of the past and becomes a special art. New tools, new methods, and a new technique are invented. Walnut becomes the fashionable wood, and to follow the taste of the day the Flemings forsake their much-loved oak. Nearly all the great pieces of the Burgundian school of this period are carved in this wood.

After slight hesitation, Flanders welcomed the Renaissance with open arms. Like the Venetian, the Fleming was artistic and commercial at the same time, and thoroughly understood how to turn his talents into profit. He scented a new fashion as soon as it made its appearance, assimilated it and added a touch or two of his own. The Renaissance found in Flanders, moreover, as we have seen, a ground already prepared by the princes of the House of Burgundy. Skilful engravers provided the studios with models and designs, wood-carvers multiplied to embellish the palace and church, town-halls and guild-houses, castle of the lord and home of the burgher and merchant.

The great artists of the period were extraordinarily versatile: they were architects, sculptors, painters, glass-painters, goldsmiths, designers for furniture and triumphal arches, machinists, historians, engravers, numismatologists, and sometimes geographers and poets all at once; and a talent for art always seemed to run through all the members of one family through several generations, including both men and women.

Plate VIII.—Cabinet (Sixteenth Century).

They had great intellects that were equal to every conception, and their skilful hands were capable of the most minute as well as the most important work. If the Renaissance produced so many original works, the cause must be sought in the complete education of the masters of this remarkable period. The artists of the Low Countries knew how to assimilate in the most complete fashion the artistic principles of other schools; but although drawing inspiration from foreign sources they knew how to imprint on their creations a particular cachet, which distinguishes Flemish work. They used to great advantage the colour of the material, the exigences of the climate and produced picturesque combinations.

The Fleming was the traveller par excellence of the Renaissance—sculptor, cabinet-maker, painter, architect, potter, weaver, goldsmith—we find him everywhere. He even reaches Hungary, Russia and Turkey. Spain he finds a congenial soil, and also England.

Although Burgundy resisted the Italian invasion for a time, the Renaissance was destined to reach, perhaps, its most brilliant development, after Italy, in this very province. It is generally conceded that the Burgundian style owes its character to Hughes Sambin, an architect and master carpenter, born about the beginning of the sixteenth century. In 1535, he finished the porch of St. Michel’s in Dijon, and in 1572, published in Lyons, after a period of study in Michael Angelo’s studio, a book filled with wood engravings, and entitled Oeuvres de la diversité des termes dont on se sert en architecture, réduit en ordre par Maistre Hughes Sambin, architecteur en la ville de Dijon.

Sambin’s most important work is the Palais de Justice in Dijon, where there is a very beautiful wooden door carved by him, or under his direction, and the Salle des Procurateurs, built under Henri II, the ceiling of which is carved wood. Sambin’s book shows that he was an adept in the Renaissance style, and devoted to the study of antique monuments. Regarding him, Champeaux says:

“In truth, it is the taste for caryatides and grotesque figures surrounded by garlands, and supporting broken pediments that predominate in all his compositions. The result is a certain character of heaviness and bizarrerie that is more conspicuous in the buildings contributed by him than in his furniture, for the material of the latter, less cold than stone, allows more scope to the original fantasy of the artist. The furniture inspired by Sambin’s designs does not exhibit the ponderous grace of the armoires and buffets made in Paris; the lines are not traced with the same tasteful harmony; but it must be recognized that no school equals the vigour and the dramatic expression of the Burgundian artists of this period. The figures of the caryatides and chimerical animals that support the various parts of their furniture and conceal the uprights, are animated with a brutal energy that only skilful chisels can create. Moreover, the walnut wood of which they are carved has been clothed with a warm tone that sometimes equals that of Florentine bronzes.”

Plate IX.—Armoire, Burgundian School.

A fine example of the Burgundian school appears on Plate [IX]. This is an armoire showing fine and bold carving with Renaissance motives. The panels of the lower drawers are carved with grotesque figures, flanked by pilasters bearing caryatides. The drawers above them are furnished with keyholes. The upper section has a large central panel with a terminal figure in the centre, the head of which forms a fine ornament between the broken pediment. On either side are terminal figures. This beautiful armoire resembles in form the “court cupboard” that was so extensively used in England at this period.

Many of the great artists of the day went to Italy to study on the spot, but it would seem that the works of Sebastian Serlio were in high repute, and were closely studied in the Low Countries. Guicciardini, who wrote in 1588, tells us that “Peter Coucq of Alost was great in cartoons or designs for tapestry; and has the peculiar praise of first bringing from Italy the canon of architecture, and translated into Flemish the work of Sebastian Serlio of Bologna, to the great advantage of the Netherlands.”

Peter Coeck was born in Alost in 1502, and died in Brussels in 1550. He was a devoted follower of Serlio. He translated his works into French and Flemish, and engraved all the plates for this publication himself. These were issued in Antwerp: parts I-III in 1516, part IV in 1539, and part V was published by his widow in 1553.

Coeck was painter to Charles V, and to his sister, Mary of Austria, Queen of Hungary (born in Brussels in 1503), to whom Charles V gave the government of the Low Countries. In her the arts and sciences found as enthusiastic a patron as they had in her aunt Margaret of Austria. Just as the latter had had her favourite painters in van Orley and Jean Mostaert, so she chose Peter Coeck for hers.

Coeck achieved great fame in the remarkable triumphal arches which he designed for the joyous entrance of Philip II into Antwerp. In 1527, he was made master of the Guild of St. Luke. Thierry de Moelenere intrusted him with the decoration of his rich house in Antwerp, in which he displayed his knowledge as architect, painter and sculptor. Some of the caryatides from this house are now preserved in the Steen Museum. A superb mantelpiece with three tiers of subjects carved by his hand is in the Town Hall of Antwerp.

Coeck also executed a window for the Church of Notre Dame in Antwerp.

Among his pupils were the painters, Pierre Clays, Gilles de la Hee, Nicholas van Nieucasteel, surnamed Nicholas Lucidel, and Pierre Breugel the Elder (who married his daughter).

Lambert Lombard (1506–66), went to Italy in 1537. He returned to Liège in 1539. He was a painter, and more particularly an architect. He set up a school of painting and engraving, the first of its kind there. Three of his pupils brought great honour to his school: these were Francis Floris, called the “Flemish Raphael,” William Key and Hubert Goltzius. He worked very little himself beyond designs for engravers, and more often for paintings on glass. He was rich enough to indulge his taste for objects of antiquity. It was at this date that the study of numismatics came into existence in Belgium, and learned men took delight in setting up a cabinet of medals and coins: among the wealthy it became even a mania that was carried to extremes. Lombard’s collection, the beauty of which was praised by all his contemporaries, was composed of medals, coins, carvings, and other objects of high antiquity.

Hubert (or Hugo) Goltius (or Goltz), was a painter, engraver, numismatologist and historian. He was born at Venlo in 1526 and died in 1583. He studied under Lambert Lombard and was also influenced by Erasmus’ friend, van Watervliet, who guided him in his classic studies, Greek and Roman antiquities, etc.

Goltius visited all the great towns in Belgium, Holland, Germany, France and Italy, in order to examine the cabinets of collectors for material for his book on coins. His itinerary reveals an astonishing number of collectors of coins and medals.

Goltius made the decorations in Antwerp for the fêtes of the Golden Fleece. He was also appointed historian to Philip II.

A marriage coffer of leather, designed by him, represented the King of Spain and Margaret of Austria standing beside the Fountain of Love.

The craze for medals, coins and curios during the sixteenth century was widespread. We have seen that the Regent had a coffer full of corals and various trifles. To meet the demand for housing curios, the cabinet was developed. This was usually a double chest, the upper one smaller than the other. Both closed with doors and contained drawers and shelves.