Iv — Antwerp
A. Origins of Antwerp
Antwerp, the seaport of the Schelde estuary, is practically the youngest (and the least interesting) of the great Belgian towns. It should therefore be visited last by the historically-minded tourist. A small town, known in Flemish as Antwerpen (“at the Wharf”),—a name altered in French and English into Anvers and Antwerp,—existed here, it is true, as early as the 7th century, and suffered heavily in the 9th from the ubiquitous Northmen. But its situation at the open mouth of the great estuary of the Schelde, exposed to every passing piratical invader, rendered it unfit for the purposes of early commerce. The trade of Flanders, in its first beginnings, accordingly concentrated itself in the more protected inland ports like Bruges and Ghent; while that of Brabant, of which province Antwerp itself formed a part, found a safer home in Brussels or Louvain, far up some minor internal river. Hence the rise of Antwerp dates no further back than the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century.
Its rise, that is to say, as a great commercial port, for from an early period it was the capital of a petty margrave, under the Duke of Brabant. As northern Europe grew gradually quieter during the 11th and 12th centuries, Antwerp rose somewhat in importance; and the magnificence of its cathedral, the earliest part of which dates from 1352, sufficiently shows that the town was increasing in wealth and population during the palmy period when Bruges and Ghent governed the trade of the Continent. But when, in the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, Bruges began to decline (partly from political causes, but more still from changes in navigation and trade routes), Antwerp rose suddenly to the first position in the Low Countries and perhaps in Europe. Its large, deep, and open port was better adapted to the increasing shipping of the new epoch than were the shallow and narrow canals or rivers of Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels. The discovery of America, and of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, had revolutionized both commerce and navigation; vessels were built larger and of deeper draught; and the Schelde became for a time what the Thames, the Clyde, and the Mersey have become in our own period. Antwerp under Charles V. was probably even more prosperous and wealthier than Venice. The centre of traffic was shifting from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic seaboard. The city reached its highest point of prosperity about 1568, when it is said that thousands of vessels lay at anchor in the Schelde, and that more than a hundred craft sailed and arrived daily. Even allowing for the smaller burden of those days, however, this is probably an exaggeration. The great fairs of Antwerp, of which those of Leipzig and Nijni Novgorod are now the only modern representatives, also drew thousands of merchants from all parts of the world. The chief imports were wool and other agricultural produce from England, grain from the Baltic, wines from France and Germany, spices and sugar from Portuguese territory, and silks and Oriental luxuries from Venice and other parts of Italy. The exports were the manufactured goods of Flanders and Brabant, countries which still took the lead in textile fabrics, tapestries, carpets, and many other important industries.
It is to this late period of wealth and prosperity that Antwerp owes most of the great buildings and works of art which still adorn it. Its cathedral, indeed, varies in date in different parts from the middle of the 14th to the beginning of the 16th century, and some portions were not quite completed till the 17th; but the general aspect of the core of the town is of the Renaissance epoch. It contains in its modern gallery not a few Flemish paintings of the earlier period, produced by the artists of Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels; but its own native art dates no further back than Quentin Matsys (1466-1531), the last of the painters of the Netherlands who adhered to the national type of art; while it reached its highest point in Rubens (1577-1640), who introduced into the Low Countries the developed style of the Italian Renaissance, adapted and strained through an essentially robust Flemish nature. It is only at Antwerp that these two great masters can be studied to the highest advantage; they illustrate, one the rise, the other the culmination and after-glow, of the greatness of their native city. I say native advisedly, for though Rubens most probably was born at Siegen (in Nassau), he was an Antwerper by descent, by blood, by nature, and by residence.
The decline of the city in later times was due to a variety of concurrent causes, some of them strangely artificial, which long distracted trade from one of its most natural outlets in Europe. The Spanish troops began the devastation, during the abortive attempt of the southern provinces to shake off the yoke of Spain; in 1576, the Town Hall and nearly a thousand noble buildings were burnt, while 8,000 people were ruthlessly massacred. In 1585, the Duke of Parma completed the destruction of the local prosperity: the population was largely scattered, and the trade of Antwerp completely ruined. The long and unsuccessful rebellion, the division which it unhappily caused between Holland and Belgium, and the rapid commercial rise, first of Amsterdam and then of England, all contributed to annihilate the mercantile importance of Antwerp. The Dutch erected forts on their own territory at the mouth of the Schelde, and refused to allow shipping to proceed up the river. Finally by the Treaty of Munster in 1648 it was agreed that no sea-going vessel should be allowed to ascend the estuary to Antwerp, but that all ships should unload at a Dutch port, goods being forwarded by river craft to the former capital of European commerce. From that date forward to the French occupation in 1794, Antwerp sank to the position of a mere local centre, while Rotterdam and Amsterdam took its place as commercial cities. In the latter year, however, the French reopened the navigation of the Schelde, and destroyed the iniquitous Dutch forts at the entrance to the river. Napoleon, in whose empire the town was included, constructed a harbour and built new quays; but after his fall, Antwerp was made over to Holland, and began to trade as a Dutch seaport. The erection of Belgium into a separate kingdom in 1830 again told against it, as the Dutch maintained their unjust power of levying tolls on the shipping; in addition to which drawback, Antwerp had suffered heavily from siege during the War of Independence. In 1863, however, the Dutch extortioners were bought off by a heavy money payment, and Antwerp, the natural outlet of the Schelde, and to a great extent of the German empire, once more regained its natural place as a main commercial port of Europe. Since that date, its rise has been extraordinarily rapid, in correspondence with the large development of Belgian manufactures and still more with the new position of Germany as a world-trading power. Indeed, nothing but the artificial restrictions placed upon its commerce by the selfishness and injustice of the Dutch could ever have prevented the seaport of the Schelde from ranking as one of the chief harbours of the world, as soon as ocean-going ships demanded ports of that size, and as commerce had no longer anything to fear from marauding pirates.
As a consequence of these conditions, we have to expect in Antwerp mainly a central town of the 15th and 16th centuries, with an immense modern outgrowth of very recent origin. Save its fine Cathedral, and its imported pictures, it has little or nothing of mediæval interest.
The population of Antwerp is almost entirely Flemish, though French is the language of the higher commerce; and the town is the stronghold of the old Flemish feeling in Belgium, as opposed to the Parisian tone of Brussels.
Concurrently with the rise of its renewed commercial importance, Antwerp has become once more a centre of Belgian art, and especially of the pure Flemish school of archaists, who have chosen their subjects from Flemish history, and followed to some extent the precedents of the early Flemish painters. Examples of these will meet us later.
Choose an hotel on the Place Verte, if possible, or at least very near it. You cannot gain a first impression of Antwerp in less than four or five days.
Antwerp is a confused town, a maze without a plan: till you have learnt your way about, I advise you to follow the tram-lines: you will thus avoid the slummy streets which abound even in the best quarter.
B. the Cathedral
[The first thing to see at Antwerp is the High Church of Our Lady, once the Cathedral, and still commonly so called, though it is not now a bishop’s see, but part of the diocese of Malines. It is a fine early and middle Gothic church, with a late Gothic or flamboyant tower; but, relatively to its fame, it is externally disappointing. This is partly because mean houses have been allowed to gather round it, but partly also because its somewhat meretricious spire has been unduly praised by earlier generations. Modern taste, which admires the simpler and severer early forms of Gothic, finds it fantastic and over-elaborate.]
The Place Verte opposite the Cathedral (once the churchyard), is planted with trees, and has its centre occupied by a modern statue of Rubens. This is one of the few points from which you can view (more or less) the exterior of the Cathedral, the greater part of which is obstructed by shabby shops clustered round its base. The only really good views, however, are obtained from the second-floor windows of the houses on the E. side of the Square, such as the Hôtel de l’Europe. Nevertheless, it will be well to walk round the building outside, in order to inspect as much of it as is visible.
The chief portal (practically), recently restored, and the S. Transept are seen from the Place Verte. There is little sculpture on them, save a small late figure of the patroness, Our Lady, with the Child, high up between the angels of the gable-end.
Now, go round to the L., into the little triangular Place known as the Marché aux Gants, to view the main West Front, best seen from the apex of the triangle opposite. It has a fine central Portal and West Window, flanked by two great towers, the southern incomplete. Its niches have statues of six only out of the Twelve Apostles. The northern tower, up to the first gallery, is middle Gothic of 1352-1449. The upper portion, with the octagonal lantern of very open work, flanked by projecting pinnacles, tied by small buttresses, is in later flamboyant Gothic, and was erected in 1502-1518, by Dominic de Waghamakere, the architect of the Gothic portion of the Town Hall at Ghent. This florid spire has been excessively praised above its merits, but will hardly satisfy a modern taste. It can be ascended (75 c.), but is dark and steep: the view, though fine, hardly repays the trouble.
The well in the Marché aux Gants, near the front of the Cathedral, has a beautiful wrought-iron canopy, to support its lid, said to have been made by Quentin Matsys when he was a blacksmith, or rather a metal-worker, before he took to painting. (But the legend is doubtful.) It consists of a trellis of vine, supporting wild men and women with clubs, and capped by a figure of Brabo, the eponymous hero of Brabant, flinging the hand of the giant Antigonus (see later, under the Hôtel-de-Ville).
Now, continue on round the N. Side of the Cathedral. A few glimpses of the N. Transept and Aisles, as well as of the Nave and Choir, may be obtained as we proceed, much of it unfortunately now marred by excessive restoration. The beautiful Choir and Apse, with their flying buttresses, are almost entirely concealed by neighbouring houses. If these were cleared away, a fine view would be obtained of a noble piece of architecture, now only visible by occasional glimpses from the upper floors of surrounding houses. This portion of the church is further disfigured by the abrupt terminations to the roofs of the Transepts, and by the ridiculous pepper-caster top which replaces the central spire or flèche of the original conception. Continue on through the narrow streets till you have made a complete tour of the Cathedral and returned to the Place Verte and the door of the S. Transept. The best general view, however, is not obtainable from any of these points, but from the Grand’ Place, and especially the upper windows of the Hôtel-de-Ville, to be visited later.
Now, enter the Cathedral, by the door in the S. Transept. (Open, free, from 8 to 12 on Sundays and Thursdays: or, every day, 12 to 4, on payment of 1 franc per person. But if you wish really to inspect the works of art it contains, pay your franc like a man, and see them at your leisure when there are no services in progress. Fine music at High Mass at 10 on Sundays.)
The interior is impressive and solemn, with its high Nave, Transepts, and Choir, of good simple Gothic, and its three rows of Aisles, the perspective of which, with their many pillars, is extremely striking. The Aisles, however, are unusually low in proportion to the height of the central cruciform building. First walk down the Nave to the West End, to form a general conception of the fine and impressive interior, grand in its colossal simplicity, and commendably free from 18th century disfigurements.
Now, begin at the R. or S. Aisle, which contains admirable modern Stations of the Cross by Vinck and Hendrickx, excellently painted in the archaic spirit. I do not describe these, as they need no explanation, but each is worthy of individual attention. Do not hurry.
The Chapel of the Sacrament, at the end of this Aisle, has good polychrome decoration, and fine stained glass windows (Last Supper, 1503: St. Amand converting Antwerp; St. Norbert preaching against the heresy of Tanquelin at Antwerp, etc.): also, a reliquary of St. Roch, and an interesting modern statue of that great plague-saint.
The S. Transept has a good modern stained glass window, and affords fine views of the central Dome and Aisles.
On the R. wall are the Marriage at Cana in Galilee, appropriately painted for the Altar of the Wine-merchants, by M. de Vos (excellent for comparison with others of the same subject), and a Last Supper by Otto van Veen, the master of Rubens, formerly the Altar-piece of the Chapel of the Sacrament.
The L. wall of the S. Transept is occupied by Rubens’s great triptych of St. Christopher, commonly called (from its central portion) **The Descent from the Cross. This is a splendid work, conceived (as to idea) in the mystical spirit of old Flemish art, though carried out, of course, in the utterly different and incongruous style of Rubens. In order to understand it we must remember that triptychs were usually kept closed on the altar, and that the picture which first met the eye was that which occupies the outer shutters. It struck the key-note. Now, the outer shutters of this work (seldom seen, unless you ask the Sacristan to close it) are occupied by a figure of St. Christopher, with the hermit who directed him to Christ, accompanied by his lantern and owl, as in the earlier St. Christopher triptych by Memling in the Academy at Bruges. This painting was ordered from Rubens by the Guild of Arquebusiers, whose patron is St. Christopher. On the outside, therefore, Rubens painted the saint himself, whose name (of course) means the Christ-Bearer. But on the inner portion he painted three other symbolical or allusive scenes of the Bearing of Christ: L., The Visitation; the unborn Christ borne by His mother: R., The Presentation in the Temple; the living Christ borne by Simeon: Centre, The Descent from the Cross; the dead Christ borne by Joseph of Arimathea and the Disciples.
The L. wing shows us Our Lady, in a big Flemish hat, approaching St. Elizabeth. Behind, Joseph and Zacharias, the two husbands, shake hands. (This composition has been copied in the stained glass window of the Cathedral at Antwerp.) In order to impress the mystical meaning of the picture, the fact of Our Lady’s pregnancy has been strongly insisted upon.
The central panel shows us the Descent from the Cross. Nicodemus holds the body by one shoulder, while St. John, below, receives it in his arms, and the Magdalen at the feet expresses her tenderness. Joseph of Arimathea descends the ladder. The actual corpse forms the salient point in the picture. It is usual to say that the contrast of the dead body and white sheet is borrowed from the famous treatment of the same subject by Daniele da Volterra in Santa Trinità de’ Monti at Rome; and indeed, the composition in this work has probably been suggested by the Italian example; but a similar white sheet, with the dead body seen against it, is found in all early Flemish art, and especially in works of the School of Roger van der Weyden. (It is known as the Holy Sudarium.) In this splendid and gorgeous conception, Rubens has given the greatest importance to the body of the Saviour; but he is so intensely occupied with the mechanical difficulties of its support, the strain and stress of the dead weight, that he forgets feeling; in spite of the agonised attitude of the Mater Dolorosa, the picture is sadly lacking in pathos. He realizes the scene as to its material facts; he fails to realize its spiritual significance. (For an opposite opinion, see M. Max Rooses, who speaks of “the profound expression of a tender and respectful love.”) To my mind, the man who holds the Sudarium in his teeth is a fault of taste of the most flagrant character. We think of the whole work rather as a wonderful piece of art than as the fitting delineation of a sacred subject. But as art it is triumphant. The faces of the St. John and the Magdalen are also charming.
The R. wing, with the Presentation, and the aged Simeon receiving Christ in his arms, is of less interest.
Next, enter the Ambulatory, behind the Choir.
1st Chapel. Good modern stained glass window of the Pietà.
2nd Chapel. Tomb of John Moretus, the son-in-law of Plantin, the famous printer (see after, under Musée Plantin-Moretus) erected by Martina Plantin, his widow, and with pictures by Rubens. Above, in an oval, portrait of John Moretus (by a pupil, re-touched by Rubens). Below, triptych; centre, *The Resurrection, emblematic of hope for his glorious future. L. wing, his patron, St. John-Baptist; R. wing, his widow’s patroness, St. Martina. This triptych, too, loses by not being first seen closed: on the outside are two angels, about to open a door; as the wings unfold, you behold the luminous figure of the risen Christ, grasping the red Resurrection banner. This figure is celebrated. The dismay of the Roman soldiers is conceived in the thorough Rubens spirit. Observe the arrangement of this triptych on the tomb: it will help you to understand others in the Museum.
Opposite this, Tomb of a Premonstratensian Friar, with St. Norbert, founder of the Order, in adoration, by Pepyn.
This chapel is also one of the best points of view for Rubens’s famous **Assumption, above the High Altar. We here see one of these great altar-pieces (of which we shall meet many examples in the Museum) placed in the situation for which it was originally designed. This Assumption ranks as one of Rubens’s masterpieces. Above, Our Lady is caught up into the air by a circle of little cherubs, dimly recalling the earlier Italian mandorla. Below, stand the Apostles, looking into the empty tomb, with the youthful figure of St. Thomas stretching out his hands in an attitude derived from the Italian subject of the Sacra Cintola. In the centre of the foreground, the Holy Women, about to pick roses from the empty tomb. (See a similar work in the Brussels Museum. This composition can only be understood by the light of earlier Italian examples.)
On the pier between this and the next chapel, Crucifixion, with Scenes from the Passion.
3rd Chapel. Master of the School of Cologne, 14th century. A Glory of the Angels. In the centre, St. Michael the Archangel slaying a dragon, whose double tongue divides into many heads of kings. R. and L., the insignificant donor and donatrix. On either side, choirs of angels in hierarchies. Above, Christ enthroned in a mandorla (almond-shaped halo) worshipped by angels. Beneath, in the predella, St. Stephen with his stone; St. Ursula with bow and arrow; St. Peter (keys); a Pietà; St. John the Evangelist; St. Agnes with her ruby ring; and St. Anthony the Abbot with his staff and bell. A good picture of the school from which Van Eyck was a reaction. Opposite it, Tomb of Bishop Ambrosio Capello, by Arthus Quellin, the only one remaining tomb of a bishop in the Cathedral.
4th Chapel. Good 16th century figure of Our Lady and Child. Tomb of Plantin, with Last Judgment by De Backer.
5th Chapel. Beautiful modern archaic altar-piece of St. Barbara.
6th Chapel. Nothing of special interest, though in all these chapels the stained-glass windows and polychromatic decorations are worthy of notice.
Opposite it, on the back of the High Altar, painted imitations of reliefs by Van Bree: an extraordinary illusion; Annunciation, Marriage of the Virgin, Visitation. In front of these, Tomb of Isabella of Bourbon, wife of Charles the Bold, and mother of Mary of Burgundy. Altar-back, Death of the Virgin, 17th cent.
7th Chapel. Good modern archaic altar-piece, with a miracle of St. John Berchman. The saints are named on it.
8th Chapel. Tolerable modern archaic altar-piece of Our Lady and Child, with donors and saints.
On the pier, between this and the next chapel, School of Roger van der Weyden, Selection of Joseph as the husband of the Virgin, and Marriage of the Virgin; a good picture.
9th Chapel, of St. Joseph, patron saint of Belgium, and therefore honoured with this larger shrine. On the Altar, modern carved and gilt altar-piece, St. Joseph bearing the Infant Christ. Around it, Scenes from his Life. L. (beginning below), Marriage of the Virgin and Joseph, Nativity, Presentation in the Temple; R. (beginning above), Flight into Egypt, Finding of Christ in the Temple, the Holy Carpenter’s Shop. Centre, Death of St. Joseph. On the wings, R., Philip IV. dedicating Belgium to St. Joseph; L., Pius IX., accompanied by St. Peter, appointing Joseph patron saint of Belgium.
Now enter the N. Transept.
R. wall. Rubens’s famous *Elevation of the Cross. In form a triptych, but with the same subject continued through its three members. Centre, The Elevation: L., St. John, the Mater Dolorosa, and the Holy Women: R., Longinus and the soldiers, with the two thieves. This is one of Rubens’s most bustling pictures, where the mere muscular effort almost wholly chokes the sense of pathos. The dog in the foreground is an exceptionally unhappy later addition by the master. The tone of colour is brown and cold; the work is mainly painted for light and shade. It was formerly the altar-piece in the Church of St. Walburga, who appears with other saints on the outer shutters.
This Transept also contains stained glass of the 17th century.
On the L. wall is a triptych by Francken: Centre, Christ among the Doctors, said to be portraits of the Reformers. L. wing, St. Ambrose baptizing Augustine, with the donor, kneeling. R. wing, Elijah causing the widow’s cruse of oil to be replenished.
The Chapel in the N. Transept has nothing of interest.
Now, enter the Choir, with good modern carved stalls, and a different but less impressive view of Rubens’s Assumption.
The N. Aisle has little of interest, save its stained-glass windows, and a Head of Christ, painted on marble, ascribed to Leonardo, but really of Flemish origin. This is affixed to the first pillar of the Lady Chapel. Further on in the Aisle, confessionals with tolerable wood-carvings.
The Nave has the usual overloaded 17th century pulpit, with Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.
I have only briefly enumerated the principal contents; but you will find much more that is interesting for yourself if you spend an hour or two longer in examining the Cathedral.
C. The Picture Gallery
[The chief object of interest at Antwerp, even more important than the Cathedral itself, is the Picture Gallery, regally housed in a magnificent Museum at the S. end of the town. The building alone might make Trafalgar Square blush, if Trafalgar Square had a blush left in it. To this collection you should devote at least two or three mornings.
The Antwerp Gallery contains in its palatial rooms a large number of Flemish pictures, many of them collected from the suppressed Churches and Monasteries of the city. (Remember that they were painted for such situations, not to be seen in Museums.) You will here have an opportunity of observing a few good pictures of the early Flemish School, and especially of improving your slight acquaintance with Roger van der Weyden, one of whose loveliest works is preserved in the gallery. You will also see at least one admirable example of Quentin Matsys, as well as several fine works of the Transitional School between the early and the later Flemish periods.
But the special glory of the Antwerp Museum is its great collection of Rubenses. It is at Antwerp alone, indeed, that you can begin to grasp the greatness of Rubens, as you may grasp it afterwards at Munich and Vienna. I do not say you will love him: I will not pretend to love him myself: but you may at least understand him. This, then, is the proper place in which to consider briefly the position of Rubens in Flemish Art.
From the days of the Van Eycks to those of Gerard David, painting in the Low Countries had followed a strictly national line of development. Its growth was organic and internal. With Quentin Matsys, and still more with Bernard van Orley, Pourbus, and the rest, the influence of the Italian Renaissance had begun to interfere with the native current of art in the Low Countries. It was Rubens who finally transformed Flemish painting by adopting to a certain extent the grandiose style of the later Italian and especially the Venetian Masters, at the same time that he transfused it with local feeling and with the private mark of his own superabundant and vigorous individuality.
Rubens was an Antwerp man, by descent and education, though accidentally born at Siegen in Nassau. His father was an Antwerp justice of an important family, exiled for supposed Calvinistic leanings, and disgraced for an intrigue with a royal lady, Anna of Saxony, the eccentric wife of William of Orange. A gentleman by birth and breeding, Peter Paul Rubens painted throughout life in the spirit of a generous, luxurious aristocrat. His master was Otto van Veen, Court Painter to the Dukes of Parma, and himself an Italianised Flemish artist, whose work is amply represented in the Museum. Early in life, Rubens travelled in Italy, where he imbibed to a great extent the prevailing tone of Italian art, as represented by Titian, Veronese, and to a less extent, Tintoretto, as well as by Domenichino and the later Roman School of painters. To these influences we must add the subtler effect of the general spirit of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the age when voyages to America and to India, and the sudden opening of the Atlantic seaboard, had caused in men’s minds a great ferment of opinion and given rise to a new outburst of activity and struggle. Romance was rife. The world was turned upside down. It was the day of Spanish supremacy, the day when the gold and silver of the Indies poured in vast sums into Madrid and the Low Countries. The Mediterranean had given way to the Atlantic, Venice to Antwerp. In England, this age gave us the rich and varied Elizabethan literature; in the Low Countries, it gave us the highly analogous and profusely lavish art of the School of Rubens.
Rubens lived his life throughout on a big scale. He travelled much. He was statesman and diplomatist as well as painter. He moved from Paris to London, from Madrid to Mantua. All these things give a tone to his art. He is large, spacious, airy, voluptuous. He has a bold self-confidence, a prodigal freedom, an easy opulence. He delights in colossal figures, in regal costume, in court dresses and feathers,—the romance and pageantry of the royal world he lived in. Space seems to swell and soar on his canvas. Vast marble halls with huge pillars and lofty steps are the architectural background in which his soul delights. His outlines are too flowing to be curbed into stiff correctness. His sturdy Flemish nature, again, comes out in the full and fleshy figures, the florid cheeks, and the abundant fair hair of his female characters. All scenes alike, however sacred, are for him just opportunities for the display of sensuous personal charm, enlivened by rich costume or wealthy accessories. Yet in his large romantic way he is doing for cosmopolitan mercantile Antwerp in the 17th century what Van Eyck and Memling did for cosmopolitan Ghent and Bruges in the 15th.
One more peculiarity of his art must be mentioned. The early painters, as we saw in the St. Ursula casket, had little sense of real dramatic life and movement. Rubens had learned to admire this quality in his Venetian masters, and he bettered their instruction with Flemish force and with the stir and bustle of a big seaport town in an epoch of development. His pictures are full, not merely of life, but of strain, stress, turmoil. It is more than animation—it is noise, it is tumult. He often forgets the sacredness of a scene by emphasizing too much the muscular action and the violent movement of those who participate in it. This is particularly noticeable in the Descent from the Cross in the Cathedral, and still more in the famous Coup de Lance at the Museum.
The astonishing number of pictures which Rubens has left may be accounted for in part by his incredible rapidity of execution—he dashed off a huge picture in a fortnight,—but in part also by the fact that he was largely assisted by a numerous body of pupils. Of these, Van Dyck was by far the most individual, the tenderest, the most refined: and not a few of his stately and touching masterpieces may here be studied.
The Dutch School is also represented by several excellent small pictures.
Of alien art, there are a few fine pieces by Early Italian artists.]
The entrance door is under the great portico on the west front, facing the river. Open daily, 9 or 10 to 4 or 5, 1 fr. per person: free on Sundays. (Inquire hours of hotel porter.)
You pass from the Vestibule (sticks and umbrellas left) into a Hall and Staircase of palatial dimensions, admirably decorated with fine modern paintings by N. De Keyser, of Antwerp, representing the Arts and Artists of the city, the influence upon them of Italian masters, and the recognition extended to their work in London, Paris, Rome, Bologna, Amsterdam, and Vienna. I do not describe these excellent pictures, as the inscriptions upon them sufficiently indicate their meaning, but they are well worth your careful attention.
The rooms are lettered (A. B. C. etc.) over the doorways. On reaching the top of the staircase, pass at once through Rooms J. and I., and go straight into
Room C.
Hall of the Ancient Masters, Flemish or foreign.
Right of the door,
224. Justus of Ghent: a bland old pope, probably St. Gregory, holding a monstrance, between two angels. In the background, a curious altar-piece, with the Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Flight into Egypt, Presentation in the Temple, and Finding of Christ in the Temple. Above it, two female saints (or figures of Our Lady?). A good work, in an early dry manner.
Above it, 463. Madonna and Child, by Van Orley: the landscape by Patinier. From a tomb in the Cathedral.
383. Van der Meire. Triptych from an altar; Centre, Way to Calvary, with St. Veronica offering her napkin, and brutal, stolid Flemish soldiers bearing the hammer, etc. In the background, the Flight into Egypt. The wings have been transposed. L., (should be R.), the Finding of Christ in the Temple. R. (should be L.), the Presentation in the Temple.
Above it, 380. Van den Broeck (1530-1601): a Last Judgment. Interesting for comparison with previous examples. Renaissance nude.
557. Unknown. Dutch School of the early 16th century. The Tiburtine Sibyl showing the Emperor Augustus the apparition of the Virgin and Child on the Aventine. A page, his robe embroidered with his master’s initial A., holds the Emperor’s crown. Very Dutch architecture. (The Catalogue, I think erroneously, makes it the Madonna appearing to Constantine.)
560. Good hard early Dutch portrait.
527. Unknown. Resurrection, the Saviour, bearing the white pennant, with red cross, and sleeping Roman soldiers.
42. An Adam and Eve, attributed to Cranach the Elder. Harsh northern nude.
341. Good portrait by Susterman, alias Lambert Lombard.
Above these, Madonna, in the Byzantine style, with the usual Greek inscriptions.
521. School of Albert Dürer: Mater Dolorosa, with the Seven Sorrows around her.
549. Good Flemish portrait of William I., Prince of Orange.
Above, 387, Van der Meire: an Entombment, with the usual figures, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea; the Magdalen in the foreground with the box of ointment; the Mater Dolorosa supported by St. John (in red); and, behind, the two Maries. In the background, a Pietà—that is to say, the same group mourning over the Dead Saviour.
425. Van Hemessen: The Calling of Matthew from the receipt of custom. Harsh and uninteresting.
568. School of Quentin Matsys: Christ and St. Veronica. Probably part only of a Way to Calvary. The spiked club is frequent.
241. Quentin Matsys: a fine and celebrated *Head of the Saviour Blessing, with more expression than is usual in the Flemish type of this subject. Notice even here, however, close adhesion to the original typical features.
242. Quentin Matsys: Companion *Head of Our Lady, as Queen of Heaven. Full of charm and simplicity.
Between these, 4, *Antonello da Messina (an Italian profoundly influenced by the School of Van Eyck, and the first to introduce the Flemish improvements in oil-painting into Italy). Crucifixion, with St. John and Our Lady. This work should be carefully studied, as a connecting link between the art of Flanders and Italy. It is painted with the greatest precision and care, and bears marks everywhere of its double origin—Flemish minuteness, Italian nobility.
254. Memling: **admirable cold-toned portrait of a member of the De Croy family. The hands, face, and robe, are all exquisitely painted.
Centre of the wall, 412, good early copy of Jan van Eyck’s altar-piece for Canon George van der Paelen, in the Academy at Bruges. If you have not been there, see page 59 for particulars. Better preserved than the original: perhaps a replica by the master himself.
519. Crucifixion, with Our Lady and St. John, on a gold background. Interesting only as a specimen of the very wooden Dutch painting of the 14th century. Contrast it with the Van Eyck beneath it, if you wish to see the strides which that great painter took in his art.
397. Good hard *portrait of Philippe le Bon of Burgundy, an uninteresting, narrow-souled personage, wearing the collar of the Golden Fleece, by Roger van der Weyden.
43. Cranach the Elder: Charity. A study of the nude, somewhat more graceful than is the wont of this painter.
264. Mostaert (Jan, the Dutchman), tolerable hard portrait: same person reappears in 262.
179. Gossaert: *a beautiful panel representing the Return from Calvary. The Mater Dolorosa is supported by St. John. On the L., the Magdalen with her pot of ointment; R., the other Maries. Very touching. Notice the Flemish love for these scenes of the Passion and Entombment.
198. Hans Holbein the Younger: **admirable portrait of Erasmus. It lives. Full of vivacity and scholarly keenness, with the quick face of a bright intelligence, and the expressive hands of a thinker. The fur is masterly.
180. Gossaert: group of figures somewhat strangely known as “The Just Judges.” Probably a single surviving panel from an extensive work of the same character as the Adoration of the Lamb at Ghent.
263. Jan Mostaert: *very fine portrait of a man in a large black hat and yellow doublet. Pendant to 264.
558. Holy Family. Dutch School. Early 16th century.
202. Lucas van Leyden: *portraits. Characteristic, and well thrown out against the background.
566. School of Quentin Matsys: a genre piece; an unpleasant representation of a young girl attempting to cut the purse strings of an old man. Probably a companion picture to one now in the possession of the Countess of Pourtalés, Paris.
Above these, 168, Triptych by Fyol, German School. Centre, the Adoration of the Magi. The Old King has removed his crown, as usual, and presented his gift. He is evidently a portrait: he wears a collar of the Golden Fleece, and is probably Philippe le Bon. Behind him, the Middle-aged King, kneeling; then the Young King, a Moor, with his offering. (The story of the Three Kings—Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar—was largely evolved in the Cologne district, where their relics formed the main object of pious pilgrimage.) To the R., an undignified Joseph, with his staff, and the peculiar robe with which you are now, I hope, familiar. In the background, the family of the donor, looking in through a window. The wings have, I think, been misplaced. L., The Circumcision; R., Nativity: notice the ox and ass, and the costume of Joseph.
325. Schoreel: Crucifixion, with Our Lady, St. John, the Magdalen, and angels catching the Holy Blood. (A frequent episode.)
Above it, 570, School of Gossaert: Our Lady.
262. Jan Mostaert: The Prophecies of Our Lady. Above, she is represented as Queen of Heaven, in an oval glory of angels, recalling the Italian mandorla. Below, those who have prophesied of her: in the centre, Isaiah, with scroll, “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive,” etc.: R. and L., Micah and Zechariah. Further R. and L., two Sibyls. The one to the R. is the same person as 264.
567. School of Quentin Matsys: Favourite subject of the Miser.
25. More monstrosities by Bosch.
Beyond the door,
534. Unknown: Flemish School: Assumption of Our Lady. Above, the Trinity waiting to crown her.
123. Dunwege: German School. The Family of St. Anne, resembling in subject the Quentin Matsys at Brussels. Centre, St. Anne enthroned. Below her, Our Lady and the Divine Child. (Often Our Lady sits on St. Anne’s lap.) L., Joachim offers St. Anne and Our Lady cherries. (See Legends of the Madonna.) R., St. Joseph, with his staff and robe. On either side, the Maries, with their children, here legibly named, and their husbands. (From a church at Calcar.)
Above this, 523. Triptych: Madonna and Child, with donors and patron saints (Sebastian and Mary Magdalen). Note their symbols. On either side,
Van der Meire: 388: Mater Dolorosa; her breast pierced with a sword: and on the other side of the triptych 389 (attribution doubtful, according to Lafenestre), a donatrix with St. Catherine, holding the sword of her martyrdom.
569. School of Gossaert, Way to Calvary, with the usual brutal soldiers.
47. Herri Met de Bles: Repose on the Flight into Egypt. Notice the sleeping St. Joseph, and the staff, basket, and gourd, which mark this subject.
539. Good unknown Flemish portrait.
Beyond this, a frame containing five excellent small pictures.
243. Quentin Matsys: *St. Mary Magdalen with her alabaster box. Sweet and simple. In reality, portrait of an amiable round-faced Flemish young lady, in the character of her patron saint. Her home forms the background.
526 and 538. Fine unknown portraits.
199. *Exquisite and delicate miniature by Hans Holbein the Younger. (Lafenestre doubts the attribution.)
132. Fouquet, the old French painter, 1415-1485. Hard old French picture of a Madonna and Child, of the regal French type, with solid-looking red and blue cherubs. Said to be a portrait of Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles VII. From the Cathedral of Melun.
Then, another case, containing six delicate works of the first importance.
396. *Roger van der Weyden (more probably, School of Van Eyck): Annunciation. The angel Gabriel, in an exquisitely painted bluish-white robe, has just entered. Our Lady kneels at her prie-dieu with her book. In the foreground, the Annunciation lily; behind, the bed-chamber. The Dove descends upon her head. This is one of the loveliest works in the collection.
253. Memling: **Exquisite portrait of a Premonstratensian Canon.
28. Dierick Bouts: The Madonna and Child. An excellent specimen of his hard, careful manner.
203. Lucas of Leyden: David playing before Saul.
30. Bril, 1556-1626. Fine miniature specimen of later Flemish landscape, with the Prodigal Son in the foreground.
559. Unknown but admirable portrait of a man.
223. Justus van Ghent: Nativity, with Adoration of the Shepherds. A good picture, full of interesting episodes.
Beyond these, another case, containing fine small works. A beautiful little *Madonna with the Fountain of Life (411) by Jan van Eyck, closely resembling a large one by Meister Wilhelm, in the Museum at Cologne. Two good unknown portraits. A splendid **portrait of a medallist (5) by Antonello da Messina (sometimes attributed to Memling). A portrait (33) of François II. of France as a child, by Clouet, of the old French School. A characteristic *Albert Dürer (124), portrait of Frederick III. of Saxony: and a good Gossaert (182). These do not need description, but should be closely studied.
The place of honour on this wall is occupied by 393, a magnificent **Seven Sacraments, usually attributed to Roger van der Weyden, though believed by some to be a work of his master, Robert Campin of Tournai. At any rate, it is a work full of Roger’s mystic spirit. In form, it is a triptych, but the main subjects are continued through on to the wings. The central panel represents the Sacrament of the Mass, typified in the foreground by a Crucifixion, taking place in the nave of an unknown Gothic church. At the foot of the cross are the fainting Madonna, supported by St. John (in red as usual) and a touching group of the three Maries. The robe of one to the left overflows into the next panel. In the background, the actual Mass is represented as being celebrated at the High Altar. The architecture of the church (with its triforium, clerestory, and apse, and its fine reredos and screen) is well worth notice. So are the figures of Our Lady, St. Peter and St. John, on the decorative work of the screen and reredos. I believe the kneeling figure behind the officiating priest to be a portrait of the donor. The side panels represent the other sacraments, taking place in the aisles and lateral chapels of the same church. L., Baptism, Confirmation, Confession: in the Confirmation, the children go away wearing the sacred bandage. R., Holy Orders, Matrimony, Extreme Unction. Each of these groups should be carefully noted. The colours of the angels above are all symbolical:—white (innocence) for Baptism: yellow (initiation) for Confirmation: red (love or sin) for confession and absolution: green (hope) for the Eucharist: purple (self-sacrifice) for Holy Orders: blue (fidelity) for Marriage: violet, almost black, (death) for Extreme Unction. The picture is full of other episodes and mystical touches. In all this beautiful and touching composition, the Mary to the right of the Cross is perhaps the most lovely portion. For a fine criticism, see Conway.
Beyond this, another frame with exquisite small works.
250. Quentin Matsys: Head of Christ, with the Crown of Thorns and Holy Blood; painful.
540. Admirable unknown miniature portrait.
544. Excellent little St. Helena.
542. A little donor, with his patron, St. John.
204, 205, 206. Good Lucas of Leyden, of the Four Evangelists (John missing). Luke, with the bull, painting; Matthew, with the angel, and Mark, with the lion, writing.
537. Admirable unknown portrait. These little works again need no description, but close study.
Above them, 244. Quentin Matsys (?). The Misers, one of the best known of this favourite subject.
Then, another frame of miniatures.
517, 518. Unknown Flemish 14th century Madonna and Child, with donor and wife.
541, 522. Tolerable portraits.
545. Fine portrait, of the Spanish period.
410. **Van Eyck’s celebrated unfinished St. Barbara, holding her palm of martyrdom, and with her tower in the background. It should be closely studied, both as an indication of the master’s method, and as a contemporary drawing illustrating the modes of mediæval building. For a careful criticism, see Conway.
Above these, Engelbrechtsen, 130. St. Hubert, attired as bishop, bearing his crozier and hunting horn, and with the stag beside him, with the crucifix between its horns.
127. The same. St. Leonard releasing prisoners.
Then, another case of good small pictures.
3. A Fra Angelico. Interesting in the midst of these Flemish pictures. St. Romuald reproaching the Emperor Otho III. for the murder of Crescentius.
32. Petrus Christus (?). A donor and his patron, St. Jerome.
64. A landscape by Patinir.
536. A Baptism of Christ, where note the conventional arrangement and the angel with the robe.
561. Triptych. Madonna and Child. St. Christopher, and St. George. Harsh and angular.
548. Mater Dolorosa, transpierced by the sword.
535. Good Flemish Madonna with angels.
207. Lucas of Leyden: Adoration of the Magi. You can now note for yourself the ox, ass, Joseph, position, age, and complexion of Kings, etc.
29. Attributed (doubtfully) to Dierick Bouts: St. Christopher wading, with the Infant Christ. In the background, the hermit and lantern. (See Mrs. Jameson.)
176. Giotto: A St. Paul with the sword. Characteristic of early Florentine work.
257, 258, 259, 260. Simone Martini of Siena: Four panels. Extreme ends, **Annunciation, closely resembling the figures in the Ufizzi at Florence: Annunciations are often thus divided into two portions. Centre, Crucifixion and Descent from the Cross. These exquisitely finished little works are full of the tender and delicate spirit of the early Sienese School. In the Crucifixion, notice particularly the Magdalen, and St. Longinus piercing the side of Christ. Our Lady in the Annunciation has the fretful down-drawn mouth inherited by early Italian art from its Byzantine teachers.
177. Giotto: St. Nicolas of Myra with the three golden balls, protecting a donor.
Above are three good portraits by Van Orley, and other works which need no description.
On easels at the end, 255. Attributed to Memling: **Exquisite Madonna and Child in a church. Our Lady, arrayed as Queen of Heaven, with a pot of lilies before her, stands in the nave of a lovely early Gothic cathedral, with a later Decorated apse, and admirable rood-screen. Every detail of the tiles, the crown, the screen, and the robe, as well as Our Lady’s hair and hands, should be closely looked into. This is one of the loveliest pictures here. It is a very reduced copy from one by Jan van Eyck at Berlin: the church is that of the Abbey of the Dunes near Furnes. Its attribution to Memling has been disputed: Conway believes it to be by a follower. In any case, it is lovely.
256. **Companion panel, of the donor, a Cistercian Abbot of the Dunes, in a sumptuous room, half bed-chamber, half study, with a beautiful fireplace and fire. He kneels at his prayers, having deposited his mitre on a cushion beside him, and laid his crozier comfortably by the fireplace. Creature comforts are not neglected on the side-board. Here also every decorative detail should be closely examined. These are two of the very finest works of the School of Memling. Probably the Abbot admired Jan van Eyck’s Madonna, painted for a predecessor, and asked for a copy, with himself in adoration on the other wing of the diptych.
At the back, on a revolving pivot,
530, 531. Christ blessing, and a Cistercian Canon in adoration. As usual, the outer panels are less brilliant in colouring than the inner. Notice the Alpha and Omega and the P. and F. (for Pater and Filius) on the curtain behind the Saviour. These works are by an inferior hand.
The other easel has a fine (208, 209, 210) *Lucas van Leyden: Adoration of the Magi, with fantastic elongated figures. Note the ruined temple. The other features will now be familiar. Lucas’s treatment is peculiar. L., St. George and the Dragon. The saint has broken his lance and attacks the fearsome beast with his sword. In the background, the Princess Cleodolind and landscape. R., The donor, in a rich furred robe, and behind him, St. Margaret with her dragon. At the back, 181, wings, by the same, with a peculiar Annunciation (the wings being open, reversed in order). Between them has been unwisely inserted an Ecce Homo by Gossaert.
Now, go straight through Rooms H, F, and E, to three rooms en suite, the last of which is
Room A,
containing the Transitional Pictures. (It is usual to skip these insipid works of the intermediate age, and to jump at once from the School of Van Eyck to the School of Rubens—I think unwisely—for Rubens himself can only properly be appreciated as the product of an evolution, by the light of the two main influences which affected him—his Flemish masters, and his Italian models, Veronese and Giulio Romano.) Begin at the far end, near the lettered doorway, and note throughout the effort to imitate Italian art; the endeavour at classical knowledge; and the curious jumble of Flemish and Tuscan ideas. But the Flemish skill in portraiture still continues.
698. Good portrait of Giles van Schoonbeke, by P. Pourbus.
Next to it, 103, Martin De Vos, the Elder: St. Anthony the Abbot, accompanied by his pig and bell, and his usual tempters, burying the body of St. Paul the Hermit, whose grave two lions are digging. To the R., hideous Flemish devils, grotesquely horrible. Above, phases of the Temptation of St. Anthony.
372. Michael Coxcie: Martyrdom of St. George—one of his tortures. Good transitional work, inspired by Italian feeling.
72. M. De Vos: Triptych, painted for the altar of the Guild of Crossbowmen in the Cathedral. Centre, Triumph of the risen Christ. In the foreground, St. Peter (keys), and St. Paul (sword), with open pages of their writings. L., St. George, patron of the Crossbowmen, with his banner and armour; R., St. Agnes with her lamb. Left panel, Baptism of Constantine by St. Sylvester. Right panel, Constantine ordering the erection of the Church of St. George at Constantinople. In the sky, the apparition of Our Lady to the Emperor. A gigantic work, recalling the later Italian Renaissance, especially the Schools of Bronzino and Giulio Romano.
374. Michael Coxcie: Martyrdom of St. George; the other wing of the same triptych in honour of St. George as 372; central portion lost.
89. M. De Vos: St. Conrad of Ascoli, a Franciscan friar, in devout contemplation of the founder of his Order, St. Francis, receiving the Stigmata. Around it, small scenes from the life of St. Conrad, unimportant. Below, Devotion at the tomb of St. Conrad: royal personages praying, offerings of rich images, and the sick healed by his relics. A curious picture of frank corpse-worship.
699. Good portrait by Pourbus.
576. Triptych, unknown. St. Eligius of Noyon (St. Éloy), one of the apostles of Brabant, preaching to a congregation really composed of good local portraits. (A pious way of having oneself painted.) R. and L., St. Eligius feeding prisoners, and St. Eligius healing the sick.
741. Another of Bernard van Orley’s General Resurrections, the type of which will now be familiar to you. In the centre, strangely introduced group of portraits of the donors, engaged in burying a friend, whose memory this triptych was doubtless intended to commemorate. On either wing, the six works of Mercy (the seventh, burial, is in the main picture).
77. Good transitional triptych, by M. De Vos, for the Guild of Leather-dressers. Centre, The Incredulity of St. Thomas. On the wings, Scenes from the life of the Baptist. L., Baptism of Christ; where note the persistence of the little symbolical Jordan, with angels almost inconspicuous. R., The Decollation of St. John. Salome receiving his head in a charger. In the background, Herodias.
371. Coxcie the Younger: Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, patron saint of Bowmen, from their altar in the Cathedral. An attempt to be very Italian. The wings of this triptych are by Francken. L., St. Sebastian exhorting Marcus and Marcellinus to go to martyrdom. R., St. Sebastian miraculously healing the dumb woman, with portrait spectators, in dress of the period, deeply interested.
Now go on into
Room B,
(unlettered, the centre of the three). It contains works of an earlier period.
The left wall is entirely occupied by three large panels of a fine old Flemish 15th century picture, attributed to Memling (and apparently accepted as his by Lafenestre), representing *Christ Enthroned, with orb and cross, surrounded by choirs of angels; those in the central panel singing; the others, playing various musical instruments. This is a beautiful work, but less pleasing than those of the same school on a smaller scale. It has been recently bought from the monastery of Najera in Spain. It was intended, I think, to be seen at a height, probably on an organ-loft, and loses by being placed so near the eye of the spectator.
The opposite wall, R., is occupied by 245, Quentin Matsys’s masterpiece, the triptych of **the Entombment, painted for the altar of the Guild of Cabinet-makers. The colouring is much more pleasing than in the Family of St. Anne at Brussels. Central panel, The Entombment. Nicodemus supports the emaciated body of the dead Saviour, while Joseph of Arimathea wipes the marks of the crown of thorns from his head. The worn body itself, with a face of pathetic suffering, lies on the usual white sheet in the foreground. At the foot, Mary Magdalen, with her pot of ointment and long fair hair, strokes the body tenderly. In the centre is the fainting Madonna, supported, as always, by St. John, in his red robe. Behind are the three Maries. The usual attendant (a ruffianly Fleming, in a queer turban-like cap) holds the crown of thorns. At the back, preparations for the actual placing in the sepulchre. In the background, Calvary.
The wings have scenes from the lives of the two St. Johns. L., The daughter of Herodias, a very mincing young lady, in a gorgeous dress, brings the head of St. John the Baptist on a charger to her mother and a fiercely-bearded Herod. The queen appears to be about to carve it. Above, a gallery of minstrels. Admirable drapery and accessories. The R. wing has the so-called Martyrdom of St. John the Evangelist, in the cauldron of boiling oil, with a delightful boy spectator looking on in a tree. The Emperor Domitian (older than history), on a white horse, behind. Flemish varlets stir the fire lustily. This noble work originally decorated the altar in the Chapel of the Menuisiers of Antwerp in the Cathedral.
On easels, 649, Claeissens: Triptych of the Crucifixion, with the Way to Calvary and the Resurrection. Elongated, attenuated figures.
680. Giles Mostaert (the elder): Singular complex picture, painted for the Hospital of Antwerp; representing, above, The General Resurrection: Christ enthroned between Our Lady and St. John-Baptist. Beneath, naked souls rising from the tomb. To the L., St. Peter welcomes the just at the gate of the Celestial City. To the R., devils drive the wicked into the gaping jaws of Hell. Beneath, the courses that lead to either end: the Seven Works of Mercy, inspired by the Redeemer, and the Seven Deadly Sins, suggested by devils. I will leave you to identify them (it is easy).
Go on into
Room D,
containing more works of the Transition. These large altar-pieces of the early 17th century, the period of the greatest wealth in Antwerp, though often frigid, as works of art, are at least interesting as showing the opulence and the tastes of the Antwerp guilds during the epoch of the Spanish domination. They are adapted to the huge Renaissance churches then erected, as the smaller triptychs of the 15th century were adapted to the smaller Gothic altars.
529. Feast of Archers, with the King of the Archers enthroned in the background.
696, 697. Tolerable portraits by Pourbus.
183. A Madonna by Gossaert.
114. Frans Floris: St. Luke painting, with his bull most realistically assisting, and his workman grinding his colours. From the old Academy of Painters, whose patron was St. Luke. Italian influence.
135. Ambrose Francken: Loaves and fishes.
148. The same. Decollation of St. Cosmo and St. Damian: painted for the Guild of Physicians, of whom these were the patron saints.
357. A splendid and luminous Titian, in the curious courtly ceremonial manner of the Venetian painters. **Pope Alexander VI. (Borgia), in a beautiful green dalmatic, introducing to the enthroned St. Peter his friend, Giovanni Sforza da Pesaro, Bishop of Paphos, and admiral of the Pope’s fleet. At the bishop’s feet lies his helmet, to show his double character as priest and warrior. He grasps the banner of the Borgias and of the Holy Church. In the background (to show who he is), the sea and fleet. St. Peter’s red robe is splendid. The Venetians frequently paint similar subjects,—“Allow me to introduce to your Sainthood,” etc. This is a fine work in Titian’s early harder manner, still somewhat reminiscent of the School of Bellini. Its glorious but delicate colour comes out all the better for the crudity of the works around it.
146. Ambrose Francken: St. Cosmo and St. Damian, the Doctor Saints, amputating an injured leg, and replacing it by the leg of a dead Moor. In the background, other episodes of their profession. (Wing of the triptych for the Guild of Physicians.)
83. M. De Vos: Triptych, painted for the Guild of the Mint, and allusive to their functions. Centre, The Tribute Money. “Render unto Cæsar,” etc., with tempting Pharisees and Sadducees, and Roman soldiers. In the foreground, St. Peter in blue and yellow, with his daughter Petronilla. Left wing: Peter, similarly habited, finds the tribute money in the fish’s mouth. Right wing: The Widow’s Mite. (The French titles, “Le Denier de César,” “Le Denier du Tribut,” “Le Denier de la Veuve,” bring out the allusion better.)
88. M. De Vos: St. Luke painting Our Lady, with his bull, as ever, in attendance. The wings by others. L., St. Luke preaching. R., St. Paul before Felix. From the altar of the (painters’) Confraternity of St. Luke in the Cathedral.
113. Frans Floris: Adoration of the Shepherds. Note persistence of formal elements from old School, with complete transformation of spirit.
663. Floris: Judgement of Solomon.
112. Frans Floris’s horrible St. Michael conquering the devils; the most repulsive picture by this repulsive and exaggerated master.
Right and left of it, good late Flemish portraits of donors.
483. Portrait by Van Veen, Rubens’s master.
Room E
contains chiefly works of the school of Rubens, most of which can now be satisfactorily comprehended by the reader without much explanation. I will therefore treat them briefly.
Left of the door,
82. A Nativity, by De Vos. Can be instructively compared with earlier examples.
57. Good 17th century landscape.
646. Attributed to Brueghel: Paying tithes.
644. P. Brueghel the Younger: A village merry-making (“Kermesse Flamande”). With more than the usual vulgarity of episode.
722 and 724. Capital portraits.
Good Still life, etc.
Room F
contains nothing which the reader cannot adequately understand for himself. Omit Room G for the present (it contains the Dutch Masters), and turn instead into
Room H,
mostly devoted to works of the School of Rubens.
End Wall, 305. Rubens: *The Last Communion of the dying St. Francis of Assisi. A famous work, in unusually low tones of colour—scarcely more than chiaroscuro. St. Francis, almost nude, is supported by his friars. Above, angels, now reduced to cherubs, wait to convey his soul to Heaven. Painted for the altar of St. Francis in the Franciscan Church of the Récollets. See it from the far end of the room, where it becomes much more luminous.
On either side, 662, good portrait by S. De Vos (himself, dashing and vigorous: every inch an artist): and
104. C. De Vos: Admirable and life-like **portrait of the messenger or porter of the Guild of St. Luke, the Society of Painters of Antwerp, exhibiting the plate belonging to his confraternity. He is covered with medals, which are the property of the Society, and has the air of a shrewd and faithful servant. This living presentment of a real man is deservedly popular.
661. Tolerable portrait by C. De Vos.
403. Van Dyck’s *Entombment (or Pietà), often called Descent from the Cross. This is one of his noblest pictures, but badly restored.
335. Angry swans disturbed by dogs. Snyders.
215. Jordaens: Last Supper. The effect of gloom somewhat foreshadows Rembrandt.
401. Van Dyck: **A Dominican picture (Guiffrey calls it “cold and empty”), painted at his father’s dying wish for the Dominican Nunnery at Antwerp. The two great saints of the Order, St. Dominic, the founder, and St. Catherine of Assisi, the originator of the female branch, stand at the foot of the Cross, which is itself a secondary object in the picture. St. Dominic looks up in adoration; St. Catherine, wearing the crown of thorns, fervently embraces the feet of the Saviour. On the base, a child angel, in a high unearthly light, with a half extinguished torch, points with hope to the figure of the crucified Lord. The whole is emblematic of belief in a glorious Resurrection, through the aid of the Dominican prayers. Interesting inscription on the rock: “Lest earth should weigh too heavily on his father’s soul, A. van Dyck rolled this stone to the foot of the Cross, and placed it in this spot.”
381. Van Hoeck: Madonna and Child, with St. Francis, from the Franciscan Church of the Récollets.
660. Tolerable portrait by C. De Vos.
406. Van Dyck’s noble **Crucifixion, with the sun and moon darkened. One of his most admirable pictures.
677. Jordaens: **Charming family scene, known by the title of “As sing the Old, so pipe the Young.” Three generations—grandparents, parents, and children—engaged in music together. Very catching: a most popular picture.
734. Good *portrait of a priest, by Van Dyck.
402. Fine *portrait of a bishop of Antwerp, by Van Dyck.
404. Van Dyck: **Pietà, altar-piece for a chapel of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. Our Lady holds on her lap the dead Christ, while St. John points out with his finger the wound in His hand to pitying angels. All the formal elements in this scene—Our Lady, St. John, the angels, etc.—belong to the earlier conception of the Pietà, but all have been entirely transfigured by Van Dyck in accordance partly with the conceptions of the School of Rubens, though still more with his own peculiar imagination. It is interesting, however, to note in this touching and beautiful picture, full of deep feeling, how far the type of the St. John has been inherited, remotely, from the School of Van der Weyden. Even the red robe and long hair persist. The features, too, are those with which we are familiar. This is one of the gems of the collection. It shows the direct influence of Italian travel modifying Van Dyck’s style, acquired from Rubens.
This room also contains several other excellent works of the School of Rubens or his more or less remote followers, which I need not particularize.
Now continue into
Room I,
containing what are considered to be the gems among the Rubenses and the later pictures.
Right of the door, Rubens and Brueghel, 319: Small copy of the Dead Christ. Schut, 327: The Beheading of St. George. A pagan priest, behind, endeavours to make him worship an image of Apollo. Above, angels wait to convey his soul to Heaven. This is a somewhat confused picture, with a spacious composition and a fine luminous foreground: it is considered its painter’s masterpiece. Intended for the altar of the Archers (whose patron was St. George), in Antwerp Cathedral.
673. Good still life by Gysels.
669. F. Francken: Portraits of a wealthy family in their own picture gallery.
107. C. De Vos: *Portraits of the Snoek family, in devotion to St. Norbert. This picture requires a little explanation. St. Norbert was the Catholic antagonist of the heretic Tankelin at Antwerp in the 12th century. In this frankly anachronistic picture the Snoek family of the 17th century, portly, well-fed burghers, are represented restoring to the mediæval saint the monstrance and other church vessels removed from his church during the Calvinist troubles. The Snoeks are living personages; the Saint is envisaged as a heavenly character. It is, in short, a highly allegorical picture of the family showing their devotion to true Catholicism, and their detestation of current heresy. In the background stands the town of Antwerp, with the Cathedral and St. Michael. (From the burial chapel of the Snoek family at St. Michael.) There is a Brueghel in Brussels Museum, representing St. Norbert preaching against Tankelin.
307. Beyond the door, Rubens: **Triptych, to adorn a tomb, for the funerary chapel of his friend Rockox. Compare, for size and purpose, the Moretus tomb in the Cathedral. It shows the painter’s early careful manner, and represents in its central piece the Incredulity of St. Thomas. On the wings, the Burgomaster Nicolas Rockox, and his wife, for whose tomb it was painted. The wings are finer than the central portion. This early work, still recalling Van Veen’s academic tone, should be compared with the Van Veens and also with Rubens’s fine portrait of himself and his brother, with Lipsius and Grotius, in the Pitti at Florence. It marks the earliest age, when he was still content with comparatively small sizes, and gave greater elaboration to his work, but without his later dash and vigour. M. Rooses thinks ill of it.
781. *Fine farmyard scene by Rubens, with the story of the Prodigal Son in the foreground. One of the many signs of his extraordinary versatility.
Beyond, on either side of the great Rubens, to be noticed presently, are two pictures by his master, Otto van Veen: 480, The Calling of Matthew, and 479, Zacchæus in the Fig-Tree. These two careful works recall the later Italian Schools, more particularly Titian, and are good examples of that careful academic transitional Flemish art which Rubens was to transform and revivify by the strength of his own exuberant and powerful personality. They are admirably placed here for comparison with
297. Rubens’s famous altar-piece of the Crucifixion, for the Church of the Franciscans, commonly known as the **Coup de Lance. In this splendid work Rubens is seen in one of his finest embodiments. The figure of Christ has fine virility. St. Longinus, to the L., on a white horse, is in the very act of piercing his side. The Magdalen, embracing the foot of the Cross, as ever, throws up her arms with supplicating gesture. To the R. is the Madonna. Behind, a soldier is engaged in breaking the limbs of the Impenitent Thief (always on Christ’s L.) who writhes in his torture. The whole work is full of Rubens’s life and bustle, well contrasted with the academic calm of the Van Veens beside it. Even those who do not love Rubens (and I confess I am of them) must see in such a work as this how his great powers succeeded in effects at which his contemporaries aimed ineffectually. Boldly dramatic, but not sacred.
300. **Triptych by Rubens, commonly known as the Christ à la Paille, painted for a tomb in the Cathedral (compare the Moretus one). In the centre is a Pietà: Joseph of Arimathea supporting the dead body of the Christ on the edge of a stone covered with straw. Behind, Our Lady and another Mary, with the face of St. John just appearing in the background. This “too famous” work is rather a study of the dead nude than a really sacred picture. Some of its details overstep the justifiable limits of horror. The wings are occupied by, L., a so-called Madonna and Child, really a portrait of a lady and boy—(his wife and son?): R., St. John the Evangelist (patron of the person for whose tomb it was painted), accompanied by his eagle.
706. Admirable *portrait by Rubens of Gaspard Groaerts, town secretary. The bust is Marcus Aurelius.
171. J. Fyt: Excellent screaming eagles, with a dead duck. One of the earliest and best presentations of wild life at home.
315. Rubens: Small copy (with variations) of the Descent from the Cross in the Cathedral (by a pupil).
708. One of the best *portraits by Rubens in the Gallery, subject unknown: lacks personal dignity, but Rubens has made the most of him.
The rest of this wall is occupied by some tolerable gigantic altar-pieces and other good works of the School of Rubens. Most of them derive their chief interest from their evident inferiority in design and colour to the handicraft of the Master. They are the very same thing—with the genius omitted.
End wall, 314, Rubens: called the *Holy Trinity. The Almighty supports on His knees the figure of the dead Christ. Behind, hovers the Holy Ghost. On either side, boy angels hold the crown of thorns, the three nails, and the other implements of the Passion. This is really a study in the science of foreshortening, and in the painting of the dead nude, largely suggested, I believe, by a still more unpleasing Mantegna in the Brera at Milan.
719. Above. Excellent fishmongery by Snyders.
212. Janssens: The Schelde bringing wealth to Antwerp, in the allegorical taste of the period.
712. Rubens: St. Dominic.
172. Fyt: Excellent dogs and game.
299. Rubens: An **allegorical picture to enforce the efficacy of the prayers of St. Theresa. The foundress of the Scalzi, dressed in the sober robe of her Carmelite Order, is interceding with Christ for the soul of Bernardino de Mendoza, the founder of a Carmelite convent at Valladolid. Below, souls in Purgatory. In the left-hand corner stands Bernardino, whom, at St. Theresa’s prayer, angels are helping to escape from torment. A fine luminous picture of a most unpleasing subject. Painted for the altar of St. Theresa in the church of her own barefooted Carmelites.
405. Van Dyck: Magnificent portrait of Cesare Alessandro Scaglia, in black ecclesiastical robes, with lace cuffs and collar, and the almost womanish delicate hands of a diplomatic, astute, courtier-like ecclesiastic. The thoughtful eyes and resolute face might belong to a Richelieu.
306. Rubens: **The Education of the Virgin, painted for a chapel of St. Anne. A charming domestic picture of a wealthy young lady of Flanders, pretending to be Our Lady, in a beautifully painted white silk gown. Beside her, her mother, a well-preserved St. Anne, of aristocratic matronly dignity. Behind is St. Joachim, and above, two light little baby angels. The feeling of the whole is graceful courtly-domestic.
481, 482. Two scenes from the life of St. Nicholas, by Van Veen, the master of Rubens. R., he throws through a window three purses of gold as dowries for the three starving daughters of a poor nobleman. (This ornate treatment contrasts wonderfully with the simpler early Italian pictures of the same subject.) L., he brings corn for the starving poor of Myra. Both pictures represent the bourgeois saint in his favourite character of the benefactor of the poor. They are here well placed for contrast with
298. Rubens: **Adoration of the Magi, considered to be his finest embodiment of this favourite subject, and one of his masterpieces. R., Our Lady and Child, with the ox in the foreground, and St. Joseph behind her. L., two kings make their offerings. Behind them, the third, a Moor, in an Algerian costume, leering horribly. Above, the ruined temple, the shed, and the camels. M. Max Rooses calls this work “the chef d’œuvre by which Rubens inaugurated his third manner,” and other critics praise loudly its gorgeous colouring, its audacious composition, its marvellous certainty. To me, the great canvas, with its hideous ogling Moor, is simply unendurable; but I give the gist of authoritative opinion.
312. Rubens: *The Holy Family, known as La Vierge au Perroquet. It is chiefly remarkable as a rich and gorgeous piece of colouring, with a charming nude boy of delicious innocence.
313. Rubens: *Crucifixion. One of his best embodiments of this subject.
Opposite wall.
709. Rubens, partly made-up: Jupiter and Antiope. A mythological subject, treated in a somewhat Italian style, with a quaint little huddling Cupid in the foreground.
Beyond this, three designs by Rubens for Triumphal Cars and Arches, on the occasion of the entry of Ferdinand of Austria in 1635.
The whole of this room contains several other excellent altar-pieces, many of which are Franciscan.
Room J.
R. and L. of the door, 105, C. De Vos: Portraits of a husband and wife, with their sons and daughters.
370. Van Cortbemde: The Good Samaritan, pouring in oil and wine in a most literal sense. In the background, the priest and the Levite.
109. Fine portrait of a well-fed Flemish merchant, William Van Meerbeck, by C. De Vos. Behind him his patron, St. William.
748. Van Thulden: Continence of Scipio.
265. Murillo (Spanish School). St. Francis. A reminiscence of the older subject of his receiving the Stigmata. It has the showy and affected pietism of the Spaniards. A mere study.
214. Jordaens: Pharaoh in the Red Sea.
Room N contains several good portraits and views of the town and other places, of the 17th and 18th centuries, many of them excellent as studies of Old Antwerp, enabling us to appreciate the greatness of the architectural losses which the city has sustained. These, however, are essentially works for the visitor to inspect at his leisure. They need little or no explanation. Notice especially 728, 348, 726.
775. Good unknown Flemish portrait.
22. Portraits by Boeyermans.
Room O, beyond, is filled for the most part with canvases of the school of Rubens, mainly interesting for comparison with the works of the master, and needing little comment.
Now return to
Room G,
containing the Dutch Pictures. Many of these are masterpieces of their sort, but need here little save enumeration. The Reformation turned Dutch art entirely upon portraiture, landscape, and domestic scenes. Dutch art is frankly modern.
338. Jan Steen: Samson and the Philistines, as Jan Steen imaged it.
767. Admirable calm sea-piece, by Van der Capelle.
752. Weenix poaching on Hondecoeter’s preserves.
502. A beautiful little Wynants.
399. W. van de Velde the younger: Calm sea, with ships.
398. Admirable cows, by A. van de Velde.
293. Rembrandt: **Admirable portrait of his wife, Saskia; almost a replica of the one at Cassel, perhaps either painted by a pupil, or else from memory after her death, and badly restored. It breathes Dutch modesty.
349. Terburg: *Girl playing a mandoline.
705. Excellent *portrait of a Burgomaster, by Rembrandt.
324. A charming Schalken.
628. Unknown: perhaps Frans Hals: Excellent portrait of a calm old lady.
668. Karel du Jardin: Admirable landscape, with cows.
188. Celebrated and vigorous **Fisher-boy of Haarlem, with a basket, by Frans Hals, rapidly touched with the hand of a master.
339. One of Jan Steen’s village merry-makings.
26. Delicate soft landscape, by J. and A. Both.
675. A mill, by Hobbema.
768. Van der Velde: Fine landscape, with cows.
427. Flowers by Van Huysum.
674. Admirable *portrait, by Frans Hals, of a round-faced, full-blooded, sensuous Dutch gentleman. Full of dash and vigour.
738. Venus and Cupid, by W. van Mieris.
437. Excellent fishmonger, by W. van Mieris.
466. *The Smoker, by A. van Ostade.
682. Arch and charming portrait, by Mytens.
773. A fine Wynants.
382. B. van der Helst: Child with a dog.
679. Some of Molenaer’s peasant folk.
713. Ruysdael: *Waterfall in Norway.
The room is full of other fine and delicately-finished pictures of the Dutch School, of which I say nothing, only because they are of the kind which are to be appreciated by careful examination, and which do not need explanation or description.
Room K. contains Flemish works of the later School of Rubens and the beginning of the decadence.
The remaining rooms of the Gallery have modern pictures, belonging to the historical and to the archaic Schools of Antwerp. These works lie without the scope of the present Guides, but many of them are of the highest order of merit, and they well deserve attention both for their own intrinsic excellence and for comparison with the works of the 15th and early 16th centuries on which they are based. The paintings of Leys and his followers, mainly in Room T, are especially worth consideration in this connection. These painters have faithfully endeavoured to revert to the principles and methods of the great early Flemish Masters, and though their work has often the almost inevitable faults and failings of a revival, it cannot fail to interest those who have drunk in the spirit of Van Eyck and Memling.
On the ground floor, a good copy, 413, etc., of the Adoration of the Lamb at Ghent, useful for filling up the gaps in your knowledge, and more readily inspected at leisure and from a nearer point of view than the original. The portraits and battle scenes on the remaining walls need little comment.
D. The Town in General
[Mediæval Antwerp, now no more, lay within a narrow ring of walls in the neighbourhood of the Cathedral. Its circumference formed a rough semi-circle, whose base-line was the Schelde, while its outer walls may still be traced on a good map about the Rempart Ste. Catherine and the Rempart du Lombard. This oldest district still remains on the whole an intricate tangle of narrow and tortuous streets, with a few ancient buildings. Later Renaissance Antwerp stretched to the limit of the existing Avenues in their northern part, though the southern portion (from the Place Léopold on) extends beyond the boundary of the 17th century city, and occupies the site of the huge demolished Old Citadel, built by Alva. Antwerp, however, has undergone so many changes, and so few relics of the mediæval age now survive, that I can hardly apply to its growth the historical method I have employed in other Belgian towns. It will be necessary here merely to point out the principal existing objects of interest, without connecting them into definite excursions.]
The centre of mediæval Antwerp was the Grand’ Place, which may be reached from the Place Verte, through the little triangular Marché aux Gants, in front of the main façade of the Cathedral. It was, however, so entirely modernized under the Spanish régime that it now possesses very little interest. The W. side of the square is entirely occupied by the Hôtel-de-Ville, a poor Renaissance building, which looks very weak after the magnificent Gothic Town Halls of Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and Louvain. The façade is extremely plain, not to say domestic. The ground floor has an arcade in imitation of Italian rustica work, above which come two stories with Doric and Ionic columns (and Corinthian in the centre); the top floor being occupied by an open loggia, supporting the roof. In the centre, where we might expect a spire, rises a false gable-end, architecturally meaningless. The niche in the gable is occupied by a statue of Our Lady with the Child (1585), the patroness of the city, flanked by allegorical figures of Wisdom and Justice.
The interior has been modernized: but it contains one fine hall, the Salle Leys, decorated with noble archaistic paintings by Baron Leys. It may be visited before 9, or after 4 in the evening (1 franc to the concierge). In the Burgomaster’s Room is also a good Renaissance chimney-piece, from the Abbey of Tongerloo, with reliefs of the Marriage at Cana, the Brazen Serpent, and Abraham’s Sacrifice.
The square contains a few Guild Houses of the 17th century, the best of which is the Hall of the Archers, to the R. of the Hôtel-de-Ville, a handsome and conspicuous building, lately surmounted by a gilt figure of St. George slaying the Dragon, in honour of the patron saint of the Archers. The older Guild Houses, however, were mostly destroyed by the Spaniards. The square, as it stands, being Renaissance or modern, cannot compare with the Grand’ Place in most other Belgian cities.
The centre of the Place is occupied by a bronze fountain, with a statue of Silvius Brabo, a mythical hero of mediæval invention, intended to account for the name Brabant. He is said to have cut off the hand of the giant Antigonus, who exacted a toll from all vessels entering the Schelde, under penalty of cutting off the hand of the skipper,—a myth equally suggested by a false etymology of Antwerp from Hand Werpen (Hand throwing). The Hand of Antwerp, indeed, forms part of the city arms, and will meet you on the lamp-posts and elsewhere. It is, however, the ordinary Hand of Authority (Main de Justice), or of good luck, so common in the East, and recurring all over Europe, as on the shields of our own baronets. Such a hand, as an emblem of authority, was erected over the gate of many mediæval Teutonic cities.
One of the objects best worth visiting in Antwerp, after the Cathedral and the Picture Gallery, is the Plantin-Moretus Museum containing many memorials of a famous family of Renaissance printers, whose monuments we have already seen in the Cathedral. To reach it you turn from the Place Verte into the Rue des Peignes, almost opposite the S. door of the Cathedral. The second turning to the R. will lead you into the small Place du Vendredi, the most conspicuous building in which is the Museum.
Beyond advising a visit, it is difficult to say much about this interesting old house and its contents. Those who are lovers of typography or of old engravings will find enough in it to occupy them for more than one morning. Such had better buy the admirable work, Le Musée Plantin-Moretus, by M. Max Rooses, the conservator. On the other hand, the general sight-seer will at least be pleased with the picturesque courtyard, draped in summer by the mantling foliage and abundant clusters of a magnificent old vine, as well as with the spacious rooms, the carved oak doorways, balustrades, and staircases, the delicious galleries, the tiles and fireplaces, and the many admirable portraits by Rubens or others. Were it merely as a striking example of a Flemish domestic interior of the upper class during the Spanish period, this Museum would well deserve attention. Read the following notes before starting.
The house of Plantin was established by Christopher Plantin of Tours (born 1514), who came to Antwerp in 1549, and established himself as a printer in 1555. He was made Archetypographer to the King by Philip II., and the business was carried on in this building by himself, his son-in-law, Moretus, and his descendants, from 1579 till 1875. It was Plantin’s daughter, Martina, who married John Moretus (see the Cathedral), and under the name of Plantin-Moretus the business was continued through many generations to our own day. The firm were essentially learned printers, setting up works in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, or even in Oriental types, and issuing editions of many important classical authors. I will not describe the various rooms, about which the reader can wander for himself at his own sweet will, but will merely mention that they contain admirable portraits of the Plantin and Moretus families, and of their famous editor, Justus Lipsius, by Rubens, and others. (The Lipsius is particularly interesting for comparison with the one at Florence in the Pitti.) The dwelling-rooms and reception-rooms, of the family, with their fine early furniture, are now open to the visitor. So is the quaint little shop, facing the street, the composing room and proof-readers’ room, the study occupied by Lipsius, and the library, with examples of many of the books printed by the firm. The original blocks of their woodcuts and of their capital letters, with the plates of their engravings, are likewise shown, together with old and modern impressions. Do not suppose from this, however, that the place is only interesting to book-hunters or lovers of engravings. The pictures and decorations alone,—nay, the house itself—will amply repay a visit.
A walk should be taken from the Place Verte, by the Vieux Marché au Blé, or through the Marché aux Gants, to the river front and Port of the Schelde. (Follow the tram-line.) Here two handsome raised promenoirs or esplanades, open to the public, afford an excellent *view over the river, the old town, and the shipping in the harbour.
The southernmost (and pleasantest) of these promenoirs ends (S.) near the Porte de l’Escaut, a somewhat insignificant gateway, designed by Rubens, and adorned with feeble sculpture by Arthus Quellin. It stood originally a little lower down the river, but has been removed, stone by stone, to its present situation. The quaint red building, with hexagonal turrets at the angles, visible from both esplanades, is the Vieille Boucherie, or Butchers’ Guild Hall, of 1503. It stands in a squalid quarter, but was once a fine edifice. Near the N. end of this promenoir, a ferry-boat runs at frequent intervals to the Tête-de-Flandre on the opposite shore of the river. Here there is a Kursaal and a strong fort. It is worth while crossing on a fine day in order to gain a general view of the quays and the town. The northernmost promenoir is approached by an archway under the castellated building known as the Steen. This is a portion of the old Castle of Antwerp, originally belonging to the Margraves and the Dukes of Brabant, but made over by Charles V. to the burghers of Antwerp. The Inquisition held its sittings in this castle. It is now, though much restored and quite modern-looking (except the portal), almost the only remaining relic of Mediæval Antwerp, outside the Cathedral. It contains a small Museum of Antiquities (unimportant; open daily, 10 to 4: 1 fr.: Sunday and Thursday free). Unless you have plenty of time you need not visit it.
A little way beyond the N. end of the northern promenoir a tangled street leads to the Church of St. Paul, which will be described hereafter. Continuing along the Quays in this direction you arrive at last at the Docks. The large modern castellated building in front of you is the Pilotage, round which sea-captains congregate in clusters. Turning along the dirty quay to the R., you reach shortly on the L. the site of the Maison Hanséatique, which was the entrepôt in Antwerp of the Hanseatic League. But it was burnt down a few years since, and its place is now occupied by mean sheds and warehouses. All this quarter is given over to the most unsightly and malodorous realities of modern seafaring life and commerce.
Antwerp is somewhat ill provided with drives or country walks. The prettiest of its public gardens is the little Park, which may be reached from the Avenue des Arts by either of the three main Avenues eastward, adorned respectively with statues of Quentin Matsys, Leys, and Jordaens. The Park is a small but ingeniously laid out triangular area, occupying the site of an old bastion, with a pleasing sheet of ornamental water (originally the moat), crossed by a bridge, and backed up by the twin spires of the modern Church of St. Joseph. Around it lies the chief residential quarter of 19th century Antwerp. This is a cool stroll in the afternoon, for one tired of sight-seeing. (Ask your hotel porter when and where the band plays daily.) Further on in the same direction is the pretty little public garden known as the Pépinière, and lying in a pleasant open quarter. (Band here also.)
The Zoological Garden, just behind the Gare de l’Est, (admission 1 fr.) is well worth a visit if you are making a stay. It is particularly well stocked with birds and animals, and has a rather pretty alpine rock-garden. On Sunday afternoons, a good band plays here from 3 to 6, and all Antwerp goes to listen to it.
A round of the Avenues may best be made in an open tram. The northern portion, leading from the Entrepôt and the Goods Station as far as the Place de la Commune, has few objects of interest. In the Place de la Commune you pass, R., the handsome and ornate Flemish Theatre; while, L., the Rue Carnot leads to the Zoological Garden, and to the uninteresting industrial suburb of Borgerhout. Beyond this comes a Covered Market, L., and then the Place Teniers, with a statue of Teniers. Here the Avenue de Keyser leads, L., to the main Railway Station (Gare de l’Est). Further on, L., the Avenue Marie-Thérèse, with a statue of Matsys, runs to the Park. So, a little later, do the Avenue Louise-Marie, with a statue of Leys, and the Avenue Marie-Henriette, with a statue of Jordaens. The handsome building, with domed and rounded turrets, on your R., just beyond the last-named Avenue, is the Banque Nationiale, intended to contain the public treasure of Belgium in case of war. Here the Chaussée de Malines leads off, S.E., to the uninteresting suburb of Berchem. The heavy new building on the L., a little further S., looking like a French mediæval château, is the Palais de Justice. From this point the Avenue du Sud runs through an unfinished district, occupying the site of the old Citadel (Alva’s) past the Museum and the Palais de l’Industrie, to the desolate Place du Sud, with the South Railway Station. You can return by tram along the Quays to the Hôtel-de-Ville and the Cathedral.
If you have plenty of time to spare, you may devote a day to
The Rococo Churches.
Most of the Antwerp churches, other than the Cathedral, are late Gothic or Renaissance buildings, disfigured by all the flyaway marble decorations so strangely admired during the 17th and 18th centuries. Few of them deserve a visit, save for a picture or two of Rubens still preserved on their altars. There are one or two, however, usually gone through by tourists, and of these I shall give some brief account, for the benefit of those who care for such things, though I do not think you need trouble about them, unless you have plenty of time, and are specially attracted by the later School of Antwerp.
The most important of these rococo churches is St. Jacques, the principal doorway of which opens into the Longue Rue Neuve. The pleasantest way to reach it, however, is to go from the Place Verte through the Marché aux Souliers, following the tramway to the Place de Meir. This broad street (one of the few open ones in Antwerp), lined by baroque Renaissance mansions of some pretensions, has been formed by filling up an old canal. The most imposing building on the R., marked by two angels holding an oval with the letter L. (the king’s initial), is the Royal Palace. A little further on, upon the same side of the street, is the House of Rubens’s Parents, with his bust above, and an inscription on its pediment signifying the fact in the Latin tongue. To reach St. Jacques you need not go quite as far down the street as these two buildings. Turn to your L. at the Bourse, a handsome modern edifice, standing at the end of what looks like a blind alley. The road runs through it, and it is practically used as a public thoroughfare. The building itself is recent—1869-72—but it occupies the site of a late-Gothic Exchange of 1531, erected by Dominic van Waghemakere. The present Bourse resembles its predecessor somewhat in style, but is much larger, has an incongruous Moorish tinge, and is provided with a nondescript glass-and-iron roof. Turn to the R. at the end of the lane, and continue down the Longue Rue Neuve, which leads you towards St. Jacques, a late-Gothic church, never quite completed. The entrance is not by the façade, but on the S. side, in the Longue Rue Neuve. (Visitors admitted from 12 till 4 p.m., 1 fr. per person. Knock at the door, and the sacristan will open.)
The interior is of good late-Gothic architecture, terribly over-loaded with Renaissance tombs and sprawling baroque marble decorations. The church was used as the Pantheon (or Westminster Abbey) for burials of distinguished Antwerp families under the Spanish domination; and they have left in every part of it their ugly and tasteless memorials.
Begin in the S. Aisle.
1st chapel. Van Dyck: St. George and the Dragon: mediocre. Above, statue of St. George, to whom angels offer crowns of martyrdom. Good modern marble reliefs of Scenes from the Passion, continued in subsequent chapels.
At the end, Baptistery, with good font.
2nd chapel, of St. Antony. Temptation of St. Antony, by M. De Vos. Italian 17th century Madonna.
3rd chapel, of St. Roch, the great plague-saint. It contains an altar-piece by E. Quellin, angels tending St. Roch when stricken with the plague. Above, the saint with his staff and gourd, in marble, accompanied by the angel who visited him in the desert. On the window wall, relics of St. Roch, patron against the plague. Round this chapel and the succeeding ones are a series of pictures from the Life of St. Roch, by an unknown Flemish master, dated 1517. They represent St. Roch in prison; relieved by the dog; resting in the forest; visited by the angel; etc. (See Mrs. Jameson.) A tomb here has a good Virgin and Child.
4th chapel. Fine old tomb; also, continuation of the History of St. Roch.
5th chapel. More History of St. Roch. On the wall, relics of St. Catherine, who stands on the altar-piece with her sword and wheel; balanced, as usual, by St. Barbara. The chapel is dedicated to St. Anna, who is seen above the altar, with Our Lady and the Infant.
6th chapel. Baptism of Christ, by Michael Coxcie, on the altar. Window wall, M. De Vos: Triptych: Centre, Martyrdom of St. James; L., the daughter of the Canaanite; R., the daughter of Jairus. (The wings are by Francken.)
The S. Transept has Renaissance figures of the Apostles (continued in the N. transept).
The Choir is separated from the Nave and Transepts by an ugly Renaissance rood-screen.
The Chapel of the Host, in the S. transept, is full of twisting and twirling Renaissance marble-work, well seconded by equally obtrusive modern works in the same spirit.
The Ambulatory has a marble screen, separating it from the Choir, in the worst taste of the Renaissance, with many rococo tombs and sculptures of that period plastered against it.
1st chapel, of the Trinity, has a Holy Trinity for altar-piece, by Van Balen.
The door to the L. gives access to the Choir, with an atrocious sculptured High Altar, and carved choir-stalls.
2nd and 3rd chapels, uninteresting.
The end chapel, behind the High Altar, is the burial chapel of the Rubens family. The altar-piece, painted by Rubens for his family chapel, represents the Madonna and Child adored by St. Bonaventura; close by stands the Magdalen; to the L. a hurrying St. George (reminiscent of the St. Sebastian by Veronese at Venice), and to the R., a very brown St. Jerome. The calm of the central picture, with its group of women, is interfered with by these two incongruous male figures. It is like parts of two compositions, joined meaninglessly together. Above are infant cherubs scattering flowers. One would say, Rubens had here thrown together a number of separate studies for which he had no particular use elsewhere. But the colour is most mellow.
5th chapel, of San Carlo Borromeo (who practically replaced St. Roch in later cosmopolitan Catholicism as the chief plague-saint). The altar-piece, by Jordaens, represents the saint invoking the protection of Christ and Our Lady for the plague-stricken in the foreground. Painted for the town almoner.
6th chapel. Three good portraits.
7th chapel. Visitation, by Victor Wolfvoet.
The N. Transept has the continuation of the Twelve Apostles, with two of the four Latin Fathers by the portal (the other two being at the opposite doorway). The Chapel (of Our Lady) resembles that in the S. Transept, and is equally terrible.
N. Aisle: The 2nd chapel has a fine triptych by M. De Vos, of the Glory of Our Lady. Centre, the Court of Heaven, where the prominent position of Our Lady is unusual, and marks an advanced phase of her cult. In the assemblage of saints below, St. Peter, St. John-Baptist, and many others, may be recognised by their symbols. The L. wing has the Calling of Matthew; the R. wing, St. Hubert, with the apparition of the crucifix between the horns of the stag. Beneath are good portraits of donors. The fine stained glass window of this chapel is noteworthy. It represents the Last Supper, with donors (1538).
The 3rd chapel, of the Rockox family, has a good triptych, by Van Orley, of the Last Judgment. On the wings are portraits of the donor and family. L., Adrian Rockox and sons, with his patron St. Adrian (sword, anvil). R., his wife, Catherine, with her daughters, and her patroness, St. Catherine.
4th chapel. Good triptych by Balen. Centre, Adoration of the Magi; R. and L., Annunciation and Visitation. On a tomb opposite, good portraits by Ryckaert.
5th chapel. Triptych, by M. De Vos: Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple. L., The Pagans attempt in vain to burn the body of St. Mark; R., Martyrdom of St. Lucy.
Another church frequently visited by tourists is St. Paul, formerly belonging to a Dominican Monastery by its side, and situated in a dirty and malodorous district. Do not attempt to go to it direct. Reach it by the Quays, turning to the R. near the end of the Northern Promenoir. Over the outer doorway of the court is a rococo relief of St. Dominic receiving the rosary from Our Lady. To the R., as you enter, is an astonishing and tawdry Calvary, built up with rock and slag against the wall of the Transept. It has, above, a Crucifixion; below, Entombment and Holy Sepulchre. All round are subsidiary scenes: St. Peter, with the crowing cock; Christ and the Magdalen in the Garden; Angels to lead the way, etc. The church itself is an imposing late-Gothic building, uglified by unspeakable rococo additions. (Admission, from 12 till 4. Knock at the door: 1 fr. per person. But unless you are a great admirer of Rubens, the sum is ill-bestowed for seeing one or two of his less important pictures.) In the N. Transept is Rubens’s *Scourging of Christ, covered: the only thing here really worth seeing. In the N. Aisle, one of his weakest Adorations of the Magi. On the altar of the Sacrament, a so-called “Dispute on the Sacrament,” by Rubens: really, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, especially the Dominicans, represented by St. Thomas Aquinas, in devout contemplation of the Mystery of the Eucharist. The other pictures in the church are relatively uninteresting works of the School of Rubens; the best is a Way to Calvary by Van Dyck.
If you want more Rubenses, you will find a Madonna, with a great group of Augustinian and primitive saints, in the Church of St. Augustine (Rue des Peignes), where there is also a good Ecstasy of St. Augustine by Van Dyck; and in the Church of St. Anthony of Padua (Marché aux Chevaux), a picture, partly by Rubens, representing St. Anthony receiving the Child Jesus from the hands of the Virgin: but I do not recommend either excursion.
Antwerp is strongly fortified, and a moat, filled with water, runs round its existing enceinte. The Old Citadel to the S. has been demolished (its site being now occupied by the Museum and the unfinished quarter in that direction), and a New Citadel erected in the N. The defensive works are among the finest in Europe.
If you wish to see whither Flemish art went, you must go on to Holland. But if you wish to know whence Flemish art came, you must visit the Rhine Towns.
If you are returning to England, viâ Calais, stop on the way to see the noble Romanesque and Transitional Cathedral at Tournai. You can easily do this without loss of time by taking the first boat train from Brussels in the morning, stopping an hour or two at Tournai (break permitted with through tickets), and going on by the second train. You can register your luggage through to London, and have no more bother with it. You will then have seen everything of the first importance in Belgium, except Ypres. And Ypres is so inaccessible that I advise you to neglect it.