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176 Route 13. ANTWERP. Old Town:
51) refers to the worship of the Virgin in Antwerp. The much-
belauded head of Christ (‘la Sainte Face’) on white marble, on the
pillar to the right of the altar, once ascribed to Leonardo da Vinci,
is by Otho van Veen.
At the E. end of the S. aisle is the CuarEn or THE SACRAMENT,
with an altar-piece, Christ at Emmaus, by W. J. Herreyns (1808).
The finest of the stained-glass windows is one erected by Count
Engelbert IL of Nassau-Dillenburg (p. 455), executed by Nic. Rom-
bouts in 1503 (Last Supper, in the middle, of the 47th cent.) and
restored by J. B. Capronnier in 1870. Other subjects represented
are St. Amandus preaching Christianity at Antwerp, St. Norbert
preaching against the heretic Tanchelinus at Antwerp, both by
Didron (1872); SS. Peter and Paul, by J. B. Capronnier (4867);
5S. John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, of the 16th century.
— The Cuarrnis prs Martaczs (closed), at the W. end of the
S. aisle, contains stained glass by Abr. van Diepenbeeck (1635).
The altar-piece is a Holy Family by H. van Balen, in a landscape
by J. Brueghel. The statue of the Virgin is by A. Quellin the Elder.
The Organ, with 90 registers, was built in 1891. The old organ-
case, with a statue of St. Cecilia, is by P. Verbruggen. Organ re-
citals on Sundays and festivals at 14 a.m. (chair 5 c.).
The crucifix inside the Main Portal in the W. fagade was cast
by J. Couthals in 1635 with the metal of a statue formerly erected
in the citadel by the Duke of Alva to himself, ‘ex aere captivo’.
The N. Towsr (404 ft.), the beautiful and elaborate open work
of which was compared by Charles V. to Mechlin lace, commands an
extensive view. The entrance is on the W. facade, near the side-
door (open all day; adm. 50 c.).
The ascent is fatiguing; 514 steps lead to the first gallery and 108
more to the second and highest. With the aid of a good telescope the
spectator may in clear weather trace the course of the Scheldt as far as
Flushing, and distinguish the towers of Bergen-op-Zoom, Breda, Lierre,
Brussels, and Malines. The Chimes consist of AO bells; the largest, cast
in 1507, weighs 8 tons. At its consecration Charles V. stood ‘godfather’.
In the Marché-aux-Gants (Handschoen-Markt), opposite the door
of the tower, is the so-called Matsys Well, protected by a Gothic
canopy of wrought iron, and surmounted by a statuette of Salvius
Brabo (see p. 477). It dates from the end of the 45th cent. and is
Said to have been executed by Quinten Matsys (d. 1529), ‘in synen
tyt grofsmidt, en daernaer famues schilder’ (‘at one time a blacksmith,
afterwards a famous painter’), according to the inscription on his
tombstone, which was formerly immured opposite the well and is
now replaced by a copy (original in the Academy). This remarkable
and talented man was originally a blacksmith from Louvain, who,
according to the legend, became enamoured of the daughter of a
painter, and to propitiate the father, exchanged the anvil for the
palette. — At No. 1% on the N.W. side, a tablet indicates the house
in which David Teniers, the painter, was born.
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