Cities of Belgium. Grant Allen's Historical Guides. Allen Grant

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the late Gothic Guild-house of the Archers of St. Sebastian. Its slender octagonal tower has a certain picturesqueness. (St. Sebastian was of course the patron of archery.) Charles II. of England (see under the Grand’ Place) was a member of this society during his exile: his bust is preserved here. So also was the Emperor Maximilian. Continue to the ramparts, and mount the first hill, crowned by a windmill, – a scene of a type familiar to us in many later Dutch and Flemish pictures. A picturesque view of Bruges is obtained from this point: the octagonal Belfry, the square tower of St. Sauveur, (the Cathedral), the tapering brick spire of Notre-Dame, with its projecting gallery and the steeple of the new church of the Madeleine are all conspicuous in views from this side. Follow the ramparts to the R., to the picturesque Porte de Ste. Croix, and on past the barracks and the little garden to the Quai des Dominicains, returning by the Park and the Place du Bourg or the Dyver.

      (3) Set out by the Grand’ Place and the Place du Bourg; then follow the Rue Haute, with its interesting old houses, as far as the canal. Do not cross it, but skirt the quay on the further side, with the towers of St. Walburge and St. Gilles in front of you. At the bridge, diverge to the right, round the church of St. Anne, and the quaint little Church of Jerusalem, which contains an unimportant imitation of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, founded by a burgomaster of Bruges in the 15th century. It is just worth looking at. Return to the bridge, and follow the quay straight on to the modern Episcopal Seminary and the picturesque old Hospice de la Potterie, which now harbours the Museum of Antiquities belonging to the Hospital of St. John. I do not advise a visit. (It contains third-rate early Flemish pictures, inferior tapestry, and a few pieces of carved oak furniture. Admission, 50 c.: entrance by the door just beyond the church, No. F, 79. The church itself is worth a minute’s visit.) This walk passes many interesting old houses, which it is not necessary now to specify. Return by the Porte de Damme, and the opposite side of the same canal, to the Pont des Carmes, whence follow the pretty canal on the right to the Rue Flamande.

      (4) Take the Rue St. Jacques, and go straight out to the Porte d’ Ostende, which forms an interesting picture. Cross the canal and outer moat, and traverse the long avenue, past the gasometers, as far as the navigable canal from Bruges to Ostend. Then retrace your steps to the gateway, and return by the ramparts and the Railway Station to the Rue Nord du Sablon.

      These four walks will show you almost all that is externally interesting in the streets and canals of the city.

      The original Palace of the Counts of Flanders, we saw, occupied the site of the Palais de Justice. Their later residence, the Cour des Princes, in a street behind the Hôtel du Commerce, has now entirely disappeared. Its site is filled by a large ornate modern building, belonging to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, who use it as a school for girls.

      The water-system of Bruges is also interesting. The original river Reye enters the town at the Minnewater, flows past the Hospital and the Dyver, and turns northward at the Bourg, running under arches till it emerges on the Place Jan van Eyck. This accounts for the apparently meaningless way this branch seems to stop short close to the statue of Van Eyck: also, for the mediæval ships unloading at the Grand’ Place. The water is now mostly diverted along the canals and the moat by the ramparts.

       E. THE CHURCHES

      [The original Cathedral of Bruges (St. Donatian) was destroyed, as we saw, by the French, in 1799; but the town still possesses two fine mediæval churches of considerable pretensions, as well as several others of lesser importance. Though of very ancient foundation, the two principal churches in their existing form date only from the most flourishing period of Bruges, the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries.

      St. Salvator or St. Sauveur, the larger, was erected into the Cathedral after the destruction of St. Donatian, whose relics were transferred to it. To this, therefore, we will first direct ourselves.]

      Go down the Rue des Pierres as far as

the cathedral,

      which replaces a very ancient church built by St. Eligius (St. Éloy) in 646.

      Externally, the edifice, which is built of brick, has rather a heavy and cumbrous effect, its chief good features being the handsome square tower and the large decorated windows of the N. and S. Transepts. The Choir and its chapels have the characteristic French form of a chevêt. The main portal of the N. Transept has been robbed of its sculpture. The Choir is of the late 13th century: the Nave and Transept are mainly in the decorated style of the 14th.

      The best entrance is near the tower on the N. side. Walk straight on into the body of the Nave, by the archway in the heavy tower, so as to view the internal architecture as a whole. The Nave and single Aisles are handsome and imposing, though the windows on the S. side have been despoiled of their tracery. Notice the curious high-pointed Triforium (1362), between the arches of the Nave and the windows of the Clerestory. The Choir is closed by a strikingly ugly debased Renaissance or rococo Rood-Screen, (1682), in black-and-white marble, supporting the organ. It has a statue of God the Father by the younger Quellin. The whole of the interior has been decorated afresh in somewhat gaudy polychrome by Jean Béthune. The effect is on the whole not unpleasing.

      The Cathedral contains few works of art of high merit, but a preliminary walk round the Aisles, Transept, and Ambulatory behind the Choir will give a good idea of its general arrangement. Then return to view the paintings. The sacristan takes you round and unlocks the pictures. Do not let him hurry you.

      Begin with the Left Aisle.

      The Baptistery, on your L., contains a handsome font. R. and L. of the entry to it are admirable brasses. In the Baptistery itself, L. wall, are two wings of a rather quaint triptych, representing St. Martin dividing his cloak with the beggar; St. Nicholas raising to life the three boys who had been salted for meat; St. Mary Magdalen with the pot of ointment (in the distance, as Penitent in the Desert); and St. Barbara with her tower; dated 1613. Also a rude Flemish picture (16th century) of the lives of St. Joachim and St. Anna, and their daughter the Blessed Virgin: – the main episodes are the Marriage of the Virgin, Birth of the Virgin, and Rejection of St. Joachim from the Temple, with other scenes in the background.

      The end wall of the Baptistery has Peter Pourbus’s masterpiece, a *triptych painted for the Guild of the Holy Sacrament, attached to the church of St. Sauveur, and allusive to their functions. The outer wings, when closed, represent the Miracle of the Mass of St. Gregory, when the Host, as he consecrated it, was changed into the bodily Presence of the Saviour, to silence a doubter. It thus shows in a visible form the tremendous mystery of Transubstantiation, in honour of which the Guild was founded. Behind, the Brothers of the Confraternity are represented (on the right wing) in attendance on the Pope, as spectators of the miracle. One of them holds his triple crown. These may rank among the finest portraits by the elder Pourbus. They show the last stage in the evolution of native Flemish art before it was revolutionized by Rubens. The inner picture represents, in the centre, the Last Supper, or rather, the Institution of the Eucharist, to commemorate which fact the Guild was founded. The arrangement of the figures is in the old conventional order, round three sides of a table, with Judas in the foreground to the left. The wings contain Old Testament subjects of typical import, as foreshadowing the Eucharist. Left, Melchisedec giving bread and wine to Abraham; right, Elijah fed by the angel in the Wilderness. All the faces have still much of the old Flemish portrait character.

      On the R. wall are the wings of a picture, by F. Pourbus (the son), painted for the Guild of Shoemakers, whose chapel is adjacent. The inside contains portraits of the members. On the outside are their patrons, St. Crispinus and St. Crispianus, with their shoemakers’ knives. Also, an early Crucifixion, СКАЧАТЬ