HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ART. xly
any profound impression, however useful they may have been in the
development of the personality of the artist. Both in the 15th and
in the 17thcentury the artistic strength of the country devoted itself
to painting. The art of the Netherlands owes its fame to the
brilliant achievements of its painters.

Cuurones. During the centuries of the Middle Ages art in the
Netherlands did not by any means keep pace with the advance made
in Germany and France: it was slow to move, and followed in the
wake first of German, and later of French art. The number of Ro-
MANESQUE buildings in Belgian territory—for Holland must first
be noticed in connection with the Gothic era—is not great. Of these
the Cathedral of Tournai (p. 83) is the most prominent example.
The influence of lower Rhenish architecture (that of Cologne) is ex-
hibited in this cathedral, as indeed in all the older churches along
the banks of the Meuse. At the same time there is an evident approxi-
mation to the French style, which, after the 13th century, pervaded
the entire land. — When in the adjacent territory of Northern
France the Gotuic Styx had acquired completeness, the Nether-
lands adopted this model. The southern portion of the land now
became, in the realm of architecture, a mere province of France;
and indeed French influence extended gradually to politics and
culture also. Stately Gothic cathedrals rear themselves in the more
considerable Belgian towns. With the church of St. Gudule in
Brussels : ssociated the choir of the church of Notre Dame at
Bruges, St. Bavon at Ghent, St. Rombaut at Malines, St. Peter at
Louvain, and, lastly, the renowned Cathedral of Antwerp, where a
lamentable want of structural harmony must be noted, more parti-
cularly in the spire, whose toppling height rather astonishes by its
audacity than delights by its beauty. Although there is an evident
preference for lofty towers (the double tower is seldom seen,
but rather a single tower in advance of the western extremity ),
yet, as a rule, an endeayour to secure a spacious area visibly
determines the general proportions, while the soaring height and
slender support, which give so marked a character to the interiors
of the cathedrals of France and Germany, are but slightly regard-
ed. Double aisles are not frequent in the churches; but the height
of the nave seldom exceeds 80 or 90 feet, being but twice, not as

susual elsewhere, three times, the width. The Dutch churches are
of similar construction. Gothic architecture was much more preva-
lent in Holland than is generally supposed; Utrecht, Amsterdam,
Haarlem, Leyden, and Rotterdam, for example, possess Gothic
churches on a grand scale, while the provinces of Friesl’md and
Groningen contain many church-buildings of the 13th and 45th
centuries which show strong trares of a North-German influence.
The building material, however, namely brick, which has been used
gives a ponderous appearance to these edifices; while the wood-
covering which replaces the vaulted roof, the absence of architectural

  

 

     

 

 
  

  

ATE asso