by Grant Allen
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 uns
peakable 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.
HISTORICAL NOTES
IN the separate Introductions to the various towns, dealing rather with Origins than with History, I have laid stress chiefly on the industrial and municipal facts, which in Belgium, indeed, are all-important. I add here, however, a few general notes on the political history of the country as a whole, chiefly dynastic. These may serve for reference, or at least as reminders; and in particular they should be useful as giving some information about the originals of portraits in the various galleries.
The two portions of the modern kingdom of Belgium with which we are most concerned in this Guide are the County of Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant. The first was originally a fief of France; the second, a component member of the Empire. They were commercially wealthier than the other portions of the Gallo-German borderland which is now Belgium; they were also the parts most affected by the Burgundian princes; on both which accounts, they are still by far the richest in works of art, alike in architecture, in painting, and in sculpture.
The vast Frankish dominions of the Merovingians and of the descendants of Charlemagne — of the Merwings and Karlings, to be more strictly Teutonic — showed at all times a tendency to break up into two distinct realms, known as the Eastern and Western Kingdoms (Austria — not, of course, in the modern sense — and Neustria). These kingdoms were not artificial, but based on a real difference of race and speech. The Eastern Kingdom (Franken or Franconia) where the Frankish and Teutonic blood was purest, became first the Empire, in the restricted sense, and later Germany and Austria (in part). The Western Kingdom (Neustria) where Celtic or Gallic blood predominated, and where the speech was Latin, or (later) French, became in time the Kingdom of France. But between these two Francias, and especially during the period of unrest, there existed a certain number of middle provinces, sometimes even a middle kingdom, known from its first possessor, Lothar, son of Charlemagne, as Lotharingia or Lorraine. Of these middle provinces, the chief northern members were Flanders, Brabant, Hainault, and Liège.
Flanders in the early Middle Ages was a fief of France; it included not only the modern Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders, but also French Flanders, that is to say the Department of the Nord and part of the Pas de Calais. As early as the Treaty of Verdun (843), the land of Flanders was assigned to Neustria. But the county, as we know it, really grew up from the possessions of a noble family at Bruges and Sluys, the head of which was originally known as Forester or Ranger. In 862, the King of France, as suzerain, changed this title to that of Count, in the person of Baldwin Bras-de-Fer (Baldwin I.). Baldwin was also invested with the charge of the neighbouring coast of France proper, on tenure of defending it against the Norman pirates. In 1006, his descendant, Baldwin IV., seized the Emperor’s town of Valenciennes; and having shown his ability to keep his booty, he was invested by the Franconian Henry II. with this district as a fief, so that he thus became a feudatory both of France and of the Empire. He was also presented with Ghent and the Isles of Zealand. Baldwin V. (1036) added to the growing principality the districts of Alost, Tournai, and Hainault. The petty dynastic quarrels of the 11th century are far too intricate for record here; in the end, the domains of the Counts were approximately restricted to what we now know as Flanders proper. A bare list of names and dates must suffice for this epoch: — Baldwin V. (1036-1067); Baldwin VI. (1067-1070); Robert II. (1093-1111); and Baldwin VII. (1111-1119).
After this date, the native line having become extinct, the county was held by foreign elective princes, under whom the power of the towns increased greatly. Among these alien Counts, the most distinguished was Theodoric (in French, Thierry; in German, Dietrich; or in Dutch, Dierick) of Alsace, who was a distinguished Crusader, and the founder of the Chapel of the Holy Blood at Bruges (which see).
Under Baldwin of Hainault (1191-1194) Artois was ceded to France, together with St. Omer and Hesdin. Henceforth, Ghent superseded Arras as the capital. Baldwin IX. (1194-1206) became a mighty Crusader, and founded the Latin Empire of Constantinople. Indeed, the Crusades were largely manned and managed by Flemings. He was followed in Flanders by his two daughters, Johanna and Margaret, under whose rule the cities gained still greater privileges. Margaret’s son, Guy de Dampierre, was the creature of Philippe IV. of France, who endeavoured to rule Flanders through his minister, Châtillon. The Flemings answered by just revolt, and fought the famous Battle of the Spurs near Courtrai, already described, against the French interlopers (see Bruges). In 1322, Louis de Nevers (Louis I.) became Count, and provoked by his Gallicising and despotic tendencies the formidable rebellion under Van Artevelde (see Ghent). The quarrel between the league of burghers and their lord continued more or less during the reigns of Count Louis II. (1346) and Louis III., who died in 1385, leaving one daughter, Margaret, married to Philip the Bold (Philippe-le-Hardi) of Burgundy.
The political revolution caused in Flanders and Brabant by the accession of the Burgundian dynasty was so deep-reaching that a few words must be devoted to the origin and rise of this powerful family, a branch of the royal Valois of France. The old Kingdom of Burgundy had of course been long extinct; but its name was inherited by two distinct principalities, the Duchy of Burgundy, which formed part of France, and the County of Burgundy (Franche Comté), which was a fief of the Empire. In the 14th century, a new middle kingdom, like the earlier Lotharingia, seemed likely to arise by the sudden growth of a practically independent power in this debateable land between France and Germany. In 1361, the Duchy of Burgundy fell in to the crown of France; and in order, as he thought, to secure its union with the central authority, John the Good of France (Jean-le-Bon), during the troublous times after the Treaty of Bretigny, conferred it as a fief upon his son, Philippe de Valois (Philip the Bold, or Philippe-le-Hardi) who married Margaret of Flanders, thus uniting two of the greatest vassal principalities of the French crown. In 1385, on the death of Louis III., Philip succeeded to the County of Flanders, n
ow practically almost an independent state. After him reigned three other princes of his family. John the Fearless (Jean-sans-Peur, 1404-1419) will be remembered by visitors to Paris as the builder of the Porte Rouge at Notre-Dame de Paris. Philip the Good (Philippe-le-Bon, 1419-1467) was the patron of Van Eyck and Memling. (His portrait by Roger van der Weyden is in the Antwerp Gallery.) Charles the Bold (Charles-le-Téméraire, 1467-1477) raised the power of the house to its utmost pitch, and then destroyed it. (His portrait by Memling is in the Brussels Gallery.) Contrary, however, to the belief of John the Good, the princes of the Valois dynasty in Burgundy, instead of remaining loyal to the crown of France, became some of its most dangerous and dreaded rivals.
All these Dukes, as French princes, played at the same time an important part in the affairs of France. They also won, by marriage, by purchase, by treaty, or by conquest, large territories within the Empire, including most of modern Belgium and Holland, together with much that is now part of France. They were thus, like their Flemish predecessors, vassals at once of the Emperor and the French king; but they were really more powerful than either of their nominal over-lords; for their central position between the two jealous neighbours gave them great advantages, while their possession of the wealthy cities of the Low Countries made them into the richest princes in mediæval Europe. It was at their opulent and ostentatious court that Van Eyck and Memling painted the gorgeous pictures which still preserve for us some vague memory of this old-world splendour. At the same time, the increased power of the princes, who could draw upon their other dominions to suppress risings in Flanders, told unfavourably upon the liberties of the cities. The Burgundian dominion thus sowed the seeds of the Spanish despotism.
