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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ART
ornamentation, and, finally, change in the forms of worship, have
done much to destroy their original beauty. But we do not visit
Holland to study ecclesiastical Gothic.
SEcuLaR Burtpines. Of far greater interest are those Gothic
buildings erected for secular and civic purposes, in which Flan-
ders is especially rich. So early as the 12th century, mighty towers
to serve as Belfries (p. xxvi) were erected in the midst of fortified
towns, for the purpose of mustering the citizens by sound of bell
in the event of an enemy’s approach or of alarm from fire. Attached
to the belfries, or erected separately, are spacious Halles, im-
posing edifices, used for the display of those products of Flemish
industry which were once foremost in the markets of the world. The
Hétel de Ville adorns the principal square of the town. Its facade
generally exhibits the wealth of decoration (sometimes carried to
excess) belonging to the later Gothic ; while, in the interior, sculptor
and painter found occasion for the exercise of their respective arts-
The belfries at Tournai and Ghent, the ‘halles’ of Bruges and Ypres,
and the ‘hotels de ville’ of Bruges, Brussels, Louvain, and Oude-
naarde, call for especial notice from the traveller; and, in case he
should be interested in antiquated domestic architecture, he will
find a rich treat provided for him in Bruges, which, like several
other towns in W. Flanders, has practically stood still since the
middle ages. Nothing amid the quiet streets and gabled houses of
this town will prevent the traveller from yielding himself wholly to
the memories of the past or from transporting himself in imagination
to the days when the Van Eycks and Memling flourished and
Flemish painting attained its first period of bloom.
Painting. To connect these early efforts with the power and
wealth of the great commercial cities, and to find in the sump-
tuous habits of the Burgundian princes the chief impulse to the
tapid development of the painter’s art in the Netherlands, is ob-
viously natural and reasonable. How the eye of the painter must
have revelled in the varied costumes, in the manifold and sharply
defined types, whether of native or foreigner, which he encountered
in the motley assemblage that thronged these cities! We may well
conceive the artist's imagination to have been fascinated by the
wealth of colour presented by a picture composed of weather-beaten
mariners, sturdy labourers, burly citizens, and sagacious traders.
The early practice of portrait-painting also may be attributed to the
spirit prevailing in the commercial towns. The interest in this
branch of the painter’s art originated probably in the self-complacency
which naturally possesses a community of substantial burghers,
proud of their vocations and achievements. Further, the Burgun-
dian princes, in the gratification of their love of splendour, found,
as trustworthy accounts assure us, abundant employment for the
artist as well as artizan. In their luxurious court, with its brilliant
retinue, there must haye been robes of state, glittering weapons, |
