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Xxxvili HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ART
wood covering which conceals the ls roof, the absence of archi-
tectural ornamentation, and, finally, change in the forms of worship,
haye done much to destroy their orig
visit Holland to study ical Gothic.
JLAR BurLpINe: r interest are those Gothic
buildings erected for secular and civic purposes, in which Flan-
rs is especially rich. So early as the 42th century, mighty
C srve aS belfrys 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. Atta
to the belfries, or erected separately, are spacious Halles, im-
posing edifices, used for the display of tl
industry which were once foremost in the mark f the ld. ‘The
Hotel de Ville adorns the principal square of the town. Its facade
generally exhibits the wealth of decoration belonging to the later
Gothic; while, in the interi sculptor and painter
for the exer¢ of their respective arts. The belfries at Tournai
and Ghent, the ‘halles’ of Bruges and Ypres, and the ‘hétels de ville’
of Bruges, Brussels, and Louvain, call for ecial notice from the
traveller; and, in case he should be interested in antiquated do-
mestic architecture, he will find a rich treat provided for him in
Bruges and Antwerp, once chief among Hanseatic towns. These
buildings date as far back as the 15th and 16th centuries, a time
when painting in the Netherlands bore its first fruits.
Parntine. To connect these early efforts with the power and
wealth of the old Hanseatic League, and to find in the sump-
tuous habits of the Burgundian Princes the chief impulse to the
rapid development of the painter’s art in the Netherlands, is
obviously 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
cities of the League! We m 1y well conceive the artist’s
agination to have been fascinated by the wealth of colour
presented by a picture composed of weather-beaten mariners, sturdy
labourers, burly citizens, and s:
inal beauty. But we do not
products of Flemish
ound occasion
ctice
viling
The interest in this branch of the painter’s
rinated probably in the self-complacency which naturally
possesses a community of substantial burghers, proud of their vo-
cations and achievements. Further, the Bureundian Princ es, 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 have
been robes of ae glittering weapons, costly furniture, besides
courtly manners, captivate the eye and engage the attention of
the painter. Tidoubten, however, as the effect of such influences
ious traders. The early
of portrait-painting may also be attributed to the spirit prev:
in the Hanseatic towns.
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