The luxurious Dukes of Burgundy—Possessions of the House of Burgundy—The Burgundian Court—Household of Philip the Good—the Feast of the Pheasant—the Duke of Burgundy at the Coronation of Louis XI—Arras Tapestries—Sumptuous Dressoirs and their Adornments—Celebrations in honour of the Knights of the Golden Fleece—Luxury of Charles the Bold—Charles the Bold at TrÈves—Furnishings of the Abbey of Saint-Maximin—Charles the Bold’s Second Marriage—Furnishings of the Banqueting Hall at Bruges—Descriptions by Olivier de la Marche—AliÉnor of Poitier’s Descriptions of the Furniture of the Duchess of Burgundy’s Apartments—Rich Dressoirs—the Drageoir and its Etiquette—the Etiquette of the Escarbeau—Philip the Bold’s Artisans—Flemish Carving—the Forme or Banc—Burgundian Workmanship—Ecclesiastical Work—Noted Carvers—Furniture of the Period—the “Golden Age of Tapestry”-Embroideries—Tapestry-weavers of the Low Countries—Introduction of Italian Cartoons—Goldsmiths’ Work—Furniture of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.

The most luxurious prince of his age was Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404), son of John the Good, King of France. By its alliances, conquests and inheritances, the House of Burgundy attained such wealth and power as to overshadow the French throne itself. Under his grandson, Philip the Good, the Burgundian Court displayed greater splendour than any other in Europe. The reigning dukes were powerful protectors of the arts. Their immense resources, drawn from the Flemish hives of industry, enabled them to indulge their taste for architecture, painting, sculpture, illuminated books, tapestry, goldsmiths’ work and sumptuous furniture. They were also insatiable collectors of everything that was curious and rare. Any able artist, sculptor, architect, goldsmith, or image-maker, driven from home by the perpetual civil wars in England, France and Italy, was sure of refuge and employment at the Court of Burgundy. Thus, for a century and a half, the Low Countries were the most important art centre of Europe. Dijon and Brussels, the capitals of the Burgundian dominions, were Meccas of Mediaeval Art; and Tournay, Bruges, Ypres, Ghent, Dinant, and many other industrial centres swarmed with craftsmen who produced all that was luxurious and beautiful for domestic comfort and decoration.

The house of Burgundy constantly increased its possessions. Some idea of its power is gained by a list of Philip the Good’s titles. He was Duke of Burgundy, of Brabant, of Lothier, of Luxembourg; Count of Flanders, of Artois and of Burgundy; Palatine of Hainault, of Holland, of Zeeland, of Namur and of Charolais; Marquis of the Holy Empire; and Lord of Friesland, of Salins and of Mechlin.

The brilliance and luxury of the Burgundian Court are attested by many chroniclers. The pages of Philip de Comines, Olivier de la Marche, and others are full of descriptions of feasts and pageantry from which we can form an idea of the luxurious appointments of the palatial dwellings of the day. Foreigners also, who were well acquainted with other European courts, bore witness to Burgundian splendour. One of these, Leo von Rozmital, who visited the courts of Europe in 1465–7, saw the Duke of Burgundy’s treasures. His suite was overpowered by the magnificence. The scribe, Tetzel, tried to enumerate and describe these marvels, but gave up the task in despair, noting “there was nothing like it in the whole world and that it far exceeded the Venetian collection.”

The son and successor of John the Fearless, Philip the Good (1396–1467), was even more luxurious than his grandfather, Philip the Bold. His Court was unequalled in Europe, and when in attendance upon the King of France, his retinue completely eclipsed royalty. His palaces in Brussels, Dijon and Paris were sumptuously furnished; and his collections of tapestries, silver, gold, jewels, embroideries, illuminated manuscripts and printed books excited the admiration of the travellers and chroniclers of the age. His household, composed of four great divisions—the Panetrie, Échansonnerie, Cuisine and Écurie, with subordinate departments, was subject to the strictest rules of etiquette and was adopted as a model by the Spanish sovereigns of the sixteenth century. The ceremonies of the levee, procession, council, audience, service of spices, banquet, etc., were selected as precedents for Vienna and Paris, as well as Madrid.

One of Philip’s most celebrated banquets—the Feast of the Pheasant, which took place at Lille in 1454—will serve to give a glimpse of the Court entertainments in his day. The large hall was hung with tapestry representing the labours of Hercules, and was encircled by five tiers of galleries for the spectators. The dressoir of enormous size was adorned with gold and silver vessels, and on either side of it stood a column. One of these had attached to it a carved female figure from whose breast flowed a fountain of hippocras; and to the other was fastened by an iron chain a live lion from Africa, a great curiosity in those days. The three great tables were covered with the most ingenious productions of the cooks, confectioners and machinists. “On a raised platform at the head of the first table sat the Duke. He was arrayed with his accustomed splendour—his dress of black velvet serving as a dark ground that heightened the brilliancy of the precious stones, valued at a million of gold crowns, with which it was profusely decked. Among the guests were a numerous body of knights who had passed the morning in the tilting-field, and fair Flemish dames whose flaunting beauty had inspired these martial sports. Each course was composed of forty-four dishes, which were placed on chariots painted in gold and azure, and were moved along the tables by concealed machinery.” As soon as the company was seated, the bells began to peal from the steeple of a huge pastry church with stained windows that concealed an organ and choir of singers, and three little choristers issued from the edifice and sang “a very sweet chanson.” Twenty-eight musicians hidden in a mammoth pie performed on various instruments, and the fine viands and wines were circulated. After the exhibition of entremets, the pheasant was brought in, the Crusade proclaimed against the Sultan, and the vows registered.

Another instance of the magnificent display of this Duke occurred when he accompanied Louis XI to Rheims for the ceremony of his coronation in 1461. This is described as follows by the Duke of Burgundy’s chronicler, Georges Chastelain (1403–75):

“Their journey resembled a triumphal procession, in which the Duke of Burgundy appeared as if he were the conqueror and Louis the illustrious captive. The trappings of the horses, that reached to the ground, were of velvet and silk, covered with precious stones and ornaments of gold, embroidered with the Burgundian arms and decorated with silver bells, the jingling of which was very agreeable and solacing. A great number of wagons draped with cloth of gold and hung with banners carried the Duke’s tapestries, furniture, silver and other table service and the utensils for the kitchen. These were followed by herds of fat oxen and flocks of sheep intended for food during the progress of the Duke and his suite. Philip and his son, with the principal nobles, appeared in their greatest magnificence, and were preceded and followed by pages, archers and men-at-arms, all in gorgeous costumes and blazing with jewels.”

Their entrance into Rheims was regarded as the most superb spectacle France had ever witnessed. Louis was crowned by the Duke of Burgundy, “the dean of the peers of France”; and at the banquet that followed the coronation, the Duke of Burgundy was still the most conspicuous figure. The same chronicler continues:

“Though the King sat at the head of the table, arrayed in regal attire, with the crown upon his head, he was still the guest of his fair uncle, whose cooks had provided the dinner, whose plate was displayed upon the sideboards and whose servants waited upon the company. In the midst of the repast, the doors were opened and porters entered bearing a costly present for the new sovereign. Such of the guests as were strangers, except from hearsay, to the splendours of the Burgundian Court, gazed in astonishment at the images, goblets, miniature ships, and other articles of the finest gold and rarest workmanship—amounting in value to more than two hundred thousand crowns—which Philip presented to the King as an emphatic token of his loyalty and good-will.”

Chastelain’s note of the great number of wagons that were required to carry the Duke’s tapestries in his journeyings is of interest. The products of the Flemish looms were highly prized by the Burgundian dukes, and great encouragement was given by them to the best work of this nature.

It was from Arras that they chiefly filled their superb store-chambers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Arras looms had become famous, far and wide; for, when Philip the Bold’s son was taken prisoner at the Battle of Nicopolis (1396), the Sultan Bajazet said to the Duke of Burgundy’s envoy that he “would be pleased to see some high-warp tapestries worked in Arras and Picardy,” and that “they should represent good old stories.” Philip thereupon sent two pack-horses laden with “high-warp cloths, collected and made at Arras, the finest that could be found on this side of the mountains.” The set he chose was The History of Alexander. In 1374, there is an entry in the accounts of the Duke of Burgundy “to Colin Bataille, tapissier et bourgeois de Paris,” for six pieces of tapestry “of Arras workmanship,” with the arms of M. the Duke of Burgundy “to cover the pack-horses of Monseigneur when he travelled.” The favourite subjects produced at Arras were romances of chivalry, such as Charlemagne and his Peers, Doon de la Roche, Baudouin de Sebourg, Percival the Gaul, Renaud de Montauban, Aubri de Bourguignon, etc.; stories from Greek mythology, such as Theseus, Jason, Paris and Helen, The Destruction of Troy, etc.; and contemporary events such as The Battle of Rosbeck, The Battle of LiÈge, History of Bertrand Duguesclin, The Jousts of St. Denis and The Battle of the Thirty. Hunting scenes and pictures of cavaliers and ladies in everyday life were popular, and stories from the Old and New Testaments, Lives of the Saints and Acts of the Martyrs. Allegory also makes its appearance as a subject for cartoons, such as the Virtues and Vices, the Seven Cardinal Sins, the Tree of Life, Fountain of Youth, etc.

When Philip the Good married Isabella of Portugal, Le FÈvre de Saint RÉmy notes that on each side of the hall there was a dressoir twenty feet long on a platform two feet high and well enclosed by barriers three feet high, on the side of which was a little gate for entrance and exit; and both dressoirs had five stages, each two and a half feet high. The three upper tiers were covered and loaded with vessels of fine gold; and the two lower ones with many great vessels of silver gilt.

Again, Chastelain, describing a banquet given by Philip the Good, says: “The Duke had made in the great hall a dressoir constructed in the form of a round castle, ten steps (degrÉs) in height filled with gold plate in pots and flagons of various kinds, amounting to 6,000 marks (argent dorÉ) not counting those on the top which were of fine gold set with rich gems of marvellous price.”

The above gives some idea of the importance of the dressoir, which undoubtedly was the most showy piece of furniture in hall or chamber. It often assumed enormous proportions on great state occasions.

A very ornate one of this period is reproduced in Plate III. It is beautifully carved with Gothic tracery, leaf-work, Biblical scenes and personages, and coats-of-arms. It is interesting to compare this with the simple form of Plate IV, which has no intermediate shelf for the display of plate; but is also interesting on account of its carving. This, with its drawers and cupboards, was a most serviceable piece of furniture and must have produced a fine effect in a room when the cupboard head was decked with plate.

The great celebrations in honour of the Knights of the Golden Fleece also offered occasion for the display of the greatest splendour at the Burgundian Court. A veritable army of painters, sculptors, illuminators, carvers and machinists was employed to design and prepare the entremets exhibited during the banquets. Among the huchiers who worked for the banquet given to the Knights of the Golden Fleece in 1453 were Guillaume Maussel and his son, Jacob Haquinet Penon, Jehan Daret and his two companions, and Jehan de Westerhem.

When Charles the Bold (1433–1477) succeeded his father, Philip the Good, in 1467, he maintained his Court with the same state, ceremony and luxury. His daily life was surrounded by pomp and punctilious etiquette. He dined in state every day and was always attended by a retinue of knights, equerries and pages. When he went to war, he always carried rich silver and tapestries, as well as costly viands and wines. The Swiss gained rich spoils after the Battle of Nancy and carried away among other articles of value tapestries which can be seen to-day in Nancy, Berne and other cities.

The meeting of Charles the Bold with the Emperor at TrÈves, in 1473, occasioned a great display of magnificence. The far-famed luxury of the Burgundian Court was well exhibited during the eight weeks that the two Courts spent in the Rhenish city. Charles gave the most superb entertainments. The Abbey of Saint Maximin, which the Duke chose for his temporary residence, was fitted up for the occasion with furniture, tapestries, richly embroidered stuffs, gold and silver from his palaces. The great hall was hung with tapestries, and the chair of state for the Emperor, the canopy and the seats for the other great personages on the daÏs were covered with rich embroidered hangings. The arms of Burgundy, the insignia of the Golden Fleece and other heraldic decorations were conspicuously displayed. Many of the most valuable ecclesiastical treasures collected by Philip the Good, such as silver images, candlesticks, and crucifixes, and reliquaries of gold studded with gems were brought to adorn the altars and shrines of the church; and, in the refectory, an immense dressoir, twenty feet broad, reached from floor to ceiling, its ten receding shelves gleaming with gold and silver plate.

Charles the Bold’s second marriage in 1468 to Margaret of York furnished another occasion for the display of his wealth and magnificence. John Paston, who went to Bruges to attend the wedding, was simply dazzled and overwhelmed by what he saw. Writing to his mother, he says: “As for the Dwkys coort, as of lords, ladys and gentylwomen, knyts, sqwyers and gentylmen, I herd never of non lyek it, save King Artourys cort. And by my trowthe, I have no wyt nor remembrans to wryte to you, half the worchep that is her.”

Passing by the descriptions of jousts and other entertainments, we may note that workmen—painters, decorators and machinists—had been engaged for many months to adorn Bruges fittingly for the nuptial festivities. The streets were hung with tapestries and cloth of gold, triumphal arches were erected at intervals, and at different points along the road the bride was diverted with “Histories,” the joint productions of dramatist, decorator, painter and machinist. The front of the palace was covered with paintings of heraldic devices and magnificent decorations, and behind the palace, in the tennis court, a new banqueting hall was erected for the occasion. This building was a hundred and forty feet long, seventy feet wide and more than sixty feet high. The walls were hung with some of the Duke’s most famous tapestries, one set of which represented Jason’s quest of the Golden Fleece; the ceiling was painted, and at every possible place banners and heraldic devices were hung. An enormous dressoir in the centre of the hall displayed on its tiers of shelves an overwhelming exhibition of gold and silver treasures glittering with gems. The tables were arranged lengthwise on either side of the hall, except one reserved for the Duke’s family and the guests of highest rank. This table was placed on a raised platform at the upper end of the hall, and over it was spread a canopy with curtains hanging to the floor, so as to present the appearance of an open pavilion. The chroniclers of the day note that “the hall was lighted by chandeliers in the form of castles surrounded by forests and mountains, with revolving paths on which serpents, dragons and other monstrous animals seemed to roam in search of prey, spouting forth jets of flame that were reflected in huge mirrors, so arranged as to catch and multiply the rays. The dishes containing the principal meats represented vessels, seven feet long, completely rigged, the masts and cordage gilt, the sails and streamers of silk, each floating in a silver lake between shores of verdure and enamelled rocks, and attended by a fleet of boats laden with lemons, olives and condiments. There were thirty of these vessels and as many huge pasties in a castellated shape with banners waving from their battlements and towers; besides tents and pavilions for the fruit, jelly dishes of crystal supported by figures of the same material dispensing streams of lavender and rosewater, and an immense profusion of gold and silver plate.”

The festivities continued for more than a week. Every day a tournament, banquet and dance took place. At one of the banquets, the decorations were so wonderful that the guests marched around the tables to examine the artistic creations. These consisted of gardens made of a mosaic-work of rare and highly polished stones, inlaid with silver, and surrounded with hedges made of gold. In the centre of each enclosure was placed a tree of gold with branches, foliage and fruit exquisitely enamelled in imitation of orange, pear, apple and other trees. Fountains of variously perfumed waters rendered the air deliciously fragrant.

Olivier de la Marche’s description of the banqueting hall is as follows:

“In this hall were three tables, one of which was placed across the ends of the others. This table, higher than the others, stood upon a platform. The other two tables were placed on the two sides of the hall, occupying the whole length; they were very long and very handsome, and in the centre of the said hall a high and rich buffet in the form of a lozenge was placed. The top of the said buffet was enclosed with a balustrade, and the whole was covered with tapestries and hung with the arms of Monsieur le Duc; and above rose the steps and degrees on which were displayed many vessels, the largest on the lowest, and the richest and smallest on the top shelves; that is to say, on the lowest shelves stood the silver-gilt vessels, and above them the vessels of gold garnished with precious stones, of which he had a great number. On the top of the buffet stood a rich jewelled cup, and on each of the four corners large and entire unicorns’ horns, and these were very large and very handsome. These vessels of parade were not to be used, for there were other vessels, pots and cups of silver in the hall and chambers intended for service.”

Turning now from the buffet d’apparat, he describes the “buffet d’usage.” Regarding the service, “The new Duchess was served by the cup-bearer, the carver and the pantler, all English, all knights and men of noble birth, and the usher of the hall cried: ‘Knights to the meat!’ And then they all went to the buffet to fetch the meat, and all the relations of Monsieur and all the knights marched around the buffet in the order of the great house two by two after the trumpeters before the meat.”

We sometimes get a glimpse of a luxurious chamber of the Burgundian Court from AliÉnor of Poitiers, who wrote Les Honneurs de la Court. Her testimony is trustworthy, for her mother was maid of honour to the Duchess Isabella, third wife of Philip the Good; and, therefore, she undoubtedly witnessed what she describes. She tells us that the chamber of Isabella of Bourbon, wife of Charles the Bold, Count of Charolais, was very large and contained two beds, separated by a space four or five feet wide. A large ciel, or canopy, of green damask covered both beds; and from it hung curtains of satin which moved on rings, and could completely screen the beds when desired. The lambrequin of the canopy and the curtains were fringed with green silk. On each bed was an ermine counterpane, lined with very fine violet cloth. The chronicler expressly notes that the black tails were left on the fur. “La grande chambre” from which the “Chambre de Madame” was entered, called the “chambre de parement,” contained one large bed in crimson satin. The ciel was very richly embroidered with a great gold sun, and “this tapestry was called la chambre d’Utrecht, for it is believed that Utrecht gave it to the Duke Philip,” writes AliÉnor, who adds: “The curtains of crimson samite are looped up like those of a bed in which nobody sleeps.” The hangings of the wall were of red silk. At one end of the bolster was a great square cushion of gold and crimson, and by the side of the bed a “large shaggy carpet.”

In each of these rooms there was a handsome dressoir; and our scribe continues: “In the chamber of the Countess de Charolais there was a large dressoir of four beautiful shelves, the whole length of the dressoir, each covered with a cloth; the said dressoir and the shelves filled with vessels of crystal garnished with gold and precious stones, and some of fine gold; for all the richest vessels of Duke Philip were there—pots, cups and beakers of fine gold, and other vessels that are never exhibited except on state occasions. Among other vessels there were on the said dressoir three drageoirs of gold and precious stones, one of which is estimated at 14,000 Écus, and another at 30,000 Écus. On the back of the dressoir was hung a dorset (dorsal) of cloth of gold and crimson, bordered with black velvet, and on the black velvet was delicately embroidered the device of Duke Philip, which was a gun....

“Item, on the dressoir which was in the chamber of the said lady, there were always two silver candlesticks which they called at Court mestiers,^[1] in which two lights were always burning, for it was fifteen days before the windows of her room were allowed to be opened. Near the dressoir in a corner was a little low table containing the cups and saucers in which something to drink was served to those ladies who came to see Madame, after they had been offered a dragÉe^[2]; but the drageoir stood upon the dressoir.”

In the “chambre de parade” there stood a very large dressoir, ornamented with superb pieces of gold and silver.

It was the custom for both lords and ladies to receive their acquaintances informally in the “chambre de parade,” while the inner room was reserved for their intimate friends. On the occasion of a birth, these two rooms were as superbly furnished as the house could afford. The richest cloths and tapestries were brought out, and the dressoir was adorned with articles of gold and silver that were only placed on view on important occasions.

When Mary of Burgundy was born, the same authority informs us that Isabella of Bourbon’s room was very richly furnished; and in honour of Mary of Burgundy, the daughter and heir of Charles the Bold, there were five shelves upon the dressoir, a privilege reserved for queens only.

The drageoir was a very important article. It contained the various “Épices de chambre,” generally called dragÉe, and meaning all kinds of sugar plums and confitures, conserves, sugared rose leaves (sucrÉ rosat), etc. A writer in the sixteenth century mentions “Curious dragÉes of all colours, some in the shape of beasts, others fashioned like men, women and birds.” Sometimes the bonbons were taken with the fingers, as may be seen in one of the fine set of tapestries in the Cluny Museum, representing The Lady and the Unicorn. An attendant kneeling presents the drageoir to the lady, who is standing with a pet bird on her left arm, and she is about to dip the fingers of her right hand into the drageoir to get something to delight the bird.

The drageoir was generally handed to the guests after dinner, and made its appearance at all ceremonial feasts. Froissart, describing the reception to the English knights sent by the King of England in 1390 to negotiate peace in France, says they were entertained at the Louvre, and “when they had dined they retired to the King’s chamber, and there they were served with wine and sweetmeats in large drageoirs of silver and gold.” It was always handed with solemnity, and subject to strict etiquette. The Constable of France had the honour of presenting the drageoir to the King. At the Duke of Burgundy’s Court, according to Olivier de la Marche, the steward handed the drageoir to the first chamberlain, who handed it to the most important personage present, who then presented it to the prince or duke. When the latter had helped himself, the honoured guest returned it to the chamberlain, who gave it to the steward.

AliÉnor also informs us: “When one of the princes had served Monsieur and Madame (the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy) with sweetmeats, one of the most important personages, for example, the first chamberlain, or Madame’s chevalier d’honneur, took the drageoir and served the Duke’s nephews and nieces; and after they had been served it was handed to everybody.”

The drageoir was one of the most valued and popular presents during the Middle Ages. In the inventory of Margaret of Austria occurs a beautiful and large silver-gilt drageoir, fluted, presented to Madame by the gentlemen of the town of Brussels for her New Year, 1520.

AliÉnor de Poitiers also says there should always be in the lady’s room a chair with a back near the bolster of the bed; and that this chair should be covered with silk or velvet, for “velvet is the most honourable covering, no matter what colour”; and “near the chair should be placed a little bench, or stool, covered with a banquier and some silk cushions for visitors to sit on when they call to see the invalid.”

The little stool or bench, called escarbeau, was very low and without back or arms. Sometimes it was triangular in form. Sometimes it served for a low table. Rich people often threw over these bancs a piece of tapestry or silk, known as banquiers.

The memory of the vast majority of the artists of this period has perished, but a few names have survived.

When Philip the Bold built a second St. Denis for his race at Dijon (1390), his art and craftsmen were all drawn from the Low Countries. Nicholas Sluter was in charge; and under his direction the Chartreuse became a veritable Flemish museum of carving. He sent for his nephew, Nicholas van de Werve, and paid him from six to seven shillings per week. Other Flemish workmen in his employ were: Jehan Malouel, Hennequin van Prindale, Roger Westerhen, Peter Linkerk, John Hulst, John de Marville, John de Beaumetz and Williken Smout. The coloured windows were made at Mechlin, by Henry Glusomack. The oak retables with their numerous figurines, were the work of a Flemish carver named Baerze of Termonde.

In fact, the only Frenchman who had any part in the work was Berthelot HÉliot, “varlet de Monseigneur,” an ivory-carver.

The two retables carved by Jacques de Baerze in 1391 for the Chartreuse are now in the Dijon Museum. One was made for the Duke’s chapel at Termonde (Dendermonde), and the other for the Abbey of Billoche, near Ghent. These were painted and gilded by Jehan Malouel and Melchior Broederlam, who had been engaged by the Counts of Flanders; and worked in Hesdin and Ypres before becoming court-painters to Philip the Bold.

The same Museum contains three cylindrical boxes of beautiful workmanship of the same period. Two of these are ornamented with arabesques and birds painted and gilded; the third is decorated with polychromatic bas-reliefs, and a round boss representing scenes from the New Testament. These boxes are supposed to have belonged to the toilet-tables of the Duchesses of Burgundy. Two retables, ornamented with bas-reliefs in the Cluny Museum are called “oratoires des Duchesses de Bourgogne.” These were bought from Berthelot HÉliot, “valet de chambre” of Philip the Bold; and it is thought that they came from Italy.

Another fine piece of Flemish wood-carving is preserved in the old Salles des Gardes of the Palace in Dijon, where it forms a decoration of the chimney-piece. This is a panel of carved wood, the last remnant of the choir-stalls in the ducal chapel. The centre of the panel was the back of John the Fearless’s seat. The upper part terminating in a pointed arch and bordered with festoons ornamented with foliage surrounds the Duke’s shield, which is supported by two angels. The arms of eight dependent provinces are carved in the lower part of the panel, enlaced in a trellis of mouldings decorated with chicory leaves, and further enriched by four angels playing various instruments.

The Dijon Museum contains another splendid piece of wood-carving of the same date in the seat or forme for the accommodation of the priest, deacon, and subdeacon of the Chartreuse. This was carved in 1395 by John of LiÈge, a carpenter, for the sum of two hundred and fifty francs, to which another hundred were afterwards added in recognition of the excellence of the work.

The forme is a species of banc divided by arms into stalls like choir-stalls. The forme always had a back which grew larger about the end of the twelfth century, and at a later date, it was surmounted by a daÏs. The forme was always considered to be a seat of honour.

John de Marville set to work on the Duke’s tomb in 1383, and in 1388 was succeeded by Claus Sluter, who also executed much important work. In the chapel of the Chartreuse at Dijon, he represented Philip the Bold and the Duchess Margaret kneeling at the feet of St. Anthony and St. Anne. In 1404, he retired to the monastery of St. Etienne de Dijon, and was succeeded in his post of “imagier and valet de chambre” to the Duke of Burgundy by his nephew Claes, or Nicholas, van de Werve.

In 1393, Philip the Bold sent his painter, Jehan de Beaumetz, and his sculptor, Claus Sluter, to see the works that his brother, the Duke of Berry, had had AndrÉ Beauneveu make at the ChÂteau Mehun-sur-YÈvre.

Burgundy was especially famous among French provinces for its woodwork. Many masterpieces were created by the Dukes of Burgundy. There were, however, other patrons of this art, the great Abbeys of Clairvaux, Citeaux, Cluny and VÉzÉlay. Numerous schools of workmen gathered around these monasteries, faithfully preserving the traditions of the master-sculptors of the past and bequeathing them to their successors of the Renaissance. A great deal of their most ornate and skilful work was naturally upon the choir-stalls. Those in the Abbey of Charlieu with figures of saints painted on wooden panels (later in the Church of Charolais), and the old Abbaye de MontrÉal (Yonne) are especially notable.

The Brabant artists perhaps manifested their fertility most in wood-carving. Flanders, during the fifteenth century, produced an enormous number of retables, choir-stalls, pulpits, chairs, tables, communion benches, and similar work. The energies of the skilful wood-carvers found vent in civil as well as ecclesiastical work. The public buildings of the prosperous cities contained many beautiful products of the chisel.

The ducal expense accounts that have come down to us contain many entries of payments made to various Flemish joiners and cabinet-makers (huchiers-menuisiers). When the great Halles of Brussels had to be rebuilt in 1409, the following experts were employed to do the work: Louis Van den Broec, Pierre de Staete, Henry and Godefroy den Molensleyer, Adam Steenberch, Henry van Duysbourg, Pierre van Berenberge, Henry van Boegarden and John van den Gance. We find these names employed on other contemporary work. A few years later, Charles de Bruyn executed the wood-carving for the Louvain cathedral. In 1409, John Bulteel of Courtray was commissioned to carve the choir-stalls for the chapel of the oratory of Ghent. Peter van Oost received the order for the ceiling of the town hall of Bruges; and in 1449, W. Ards was carving that of the town hall of Mechlin. In 1470, the great altar-piece of Saint Waltrude in Herentals was executed by B. van Raephorst. In 1459, the beautiful stalls of the Abbey of Tournay, which were unfortunately destroyed by fire in the following century, were carved by Jan Vlaenders.

A noted carver of this age was Jehan Malouel Hennequin van Prindale, who, as we have seen, was in the employ of the Duke of Burgundy. The hands only of a Magdalen that he made (1399–1400) are in the Dijon Museum. This statue was remarkable as having a copper nimbus, or diadem.

The fame of the Flemish wood-carvers spread far beyond the confines of their own provinces, and their services were eagerly sought in England, France, Spain, Italy and even Germany.

Although German wood-carvers were plentiful, John Floreins was employed on the choir-stalls of the Cologne Cathedral. In 1465, Flemish huchiers were called upon to carve the stalls of Rouen. Italy attracted many artists whose work still attests their ability. Among the innumerable workers in intaglio and marquetry of that period, we find the names of almost as many Northerners as native Italians. The Church of St. Georgio Maggiore, Venice, contains forty-eight stalls, adorned by Van der Brulh of Antwerp with carved bas-reliefs illustrating the life of St. Benedict. The armoires of the sacristy of Ferrara bear the signatures of Henry and William, two Flemish carvers; and many other examples might be cited.

In Spain, the entire Spanish school, until Berruguete brought the New Art from Michelangelo’s studio in 1520, was led by Philippe Vigarny, a Burgundian, who was considered the best wood-carver in Spain. His style was frankly Gothic.

The influence of the Flemish and French was so great in Spain at this time, that Juan de Arphe severely reprimands his fellow-workers, who never cease copying the “papelas y estampas flamencas y francesas.”

There was not a prosperous city in the Netherlands whose public and private buildings were not embellished with the products of the great artists in wood-carving. The great masters of Bruges were Guyot de Beaugrant, L. Glosencamp, Roger de Smet and AndrÉ Rasch, sculptors and carpenters who executed the chimneypiece in the Palais du Franc in Bruges after the designs of Lancelot Blondeel.

One of the most characteristic specimens of Flemish carpentry-work of the fifteenth century is the oak pew richly carved in the Gothic style (1474), belonging to the Van der Gruuthuuse family in Notre Dame of Bruges that is connected by a passage with the Gruuthuuse Mansion, built in (1465–70).

It is important to keep constantly in mind the fact that at this period architects, sculptors, painters and goldsmiths did not confine themselves to one particular field of labour. Sculptors worked both in wood and stone in both civil and religious buildings, and the best talent was employed equally on retables, choir-stalls, pulpits, bishops’ thrones, armoires, dressoirs, chests and seats. The Duke’s accounts show many entries of payments for elaborate furniture. Two examples will suffice: “June 20, 1399: From the Duke of Burgundy to Sandom, huchier, living in Arras, for a dressoir, with lock and keys, which was placed in the chamber of our very dear and much-loved son Anthoyne, xxxii sols pariis”; and again, “To Pierre Turquet, huchier, living in the said town of Arras, for a bench, a table, a pair of trestles, and for a dressoir with lock and key for our chamber in our abode in the said place, for goods supplied by him four livres pariis.”

The fifteenth century has been called the “Golden Age of Tapestry.” Not only were the halls and chambers of rich lords hung with “noble auncyent stories,” woven in silk and wool of the most gorgeous hues and enlivened with shining threads of gold, but the store-rooms were filled with sets that were brought forth to decorate the outsides as well as the interiors of houses on the occasion of some great festival, marriage, tournament, or return of a conqueror from the wars. Wealthy princes often took valuable sets to war to decorate their tents. Charles the Bold, for example, had with him some of his richest treasures, which became the trophies of his Swiss conquerors and are now in Berne.

Owing to her wars, the industries of France had declined, and among them her tapestry. Flanders now, particularly under the patronage of the rich and powerful Dukes of Burgundy, enjoyed the greatest prosperity. Flanders became the centre of the manufacture of tapestry; and Arras, Brussels and Bruges produced works that have never been surpassed.

Every subject lent itself to reproduction. The inventory of a princely but small collector in 1406–7 mentions: A Stag in a Wood, Story of Pyramus and Thisbe, History of the God of Love, History of King Pepin, Hawking, A Lord and Lady playing at Chess, A Trapped Hare, Monkeys, Castles, Parrots, and Verdures. The latter shows how early the beautiful landscapes were valued. Throughout this century the tapestries show charming backgrounds of daisies, violets, strawberries, jessamine, primroses, bellflowers and lovely leaves often scattered in artistic disorder.

The influence of Memling and the Van Eycks and their school was insistent, although comparatively few of their pictures were translated into tapestry. One of the pupils of the Van Eycks, Roger van der Weyden, designed many cartoons, among which were the Legend of Trajan and Story of Heckenbald for the Town Hall of Brussels.

The great impetus to the Flemish looms was given by the Dukes of Burgundy. Philip the Bold (1384–1404) encouraged the weavers of Arras by giving orders and large payments in advance. Finally, he owned such a superb collection that he had a special officer, a garde de la tapisserie, to take charge of it.

Philip the Good (1419–1467) inherited this taste for beautiful tapestry and gave numerous orders to the tapestry-makers of Flanders. The inventory of his treasury made in Dijon in 1420, shows that he possessed at the beginning of his reign five chambres of tapestry, each comprising several pieces, and more than seventy high warp “storied” tapestries to ornament the halls and the chapel. Among them was a set of eleven pieces containing portraits of “the late Duke Jehan and Madame his wife on foot and on horseback,” hawking, with birds on their wrists and birds flying all around them. The same prince also had: “A red room of high-warp tapestry woven with gold, on which were represented ladies, pheasants, persons of distinction and rank, nobles, simple folk, and others, with a canopy ornamented with falcons.”

Then there was a rich “chamber,” “with high-warp tapestry of Arras thread, called the chambre of the little children, furnished with the canopy, head-board, and coverlet of a bed, worked with gold and silk, the head-board and coverlet being strewn with trees, grasses, and little children, and the canopy representing trails of flowering rose-trees on a red background.”

Another set of “high-warp tapestry, worked in Arras thread and gold” was called “The Chamber of the Coronation of Our Lady.” It was furnished with “a canopy, a head-board, a bed coverlet, and six curtains two of which were worked with gold, and the remaining four without gold. On each of these were two figures, the late Duke Anthony of Brabant and his wife and their children, screened with a small dosser; the whole was of Brabant work.”

In addition to these superb sets, there were sixty “saloon tapestries” in which the hangings woven with gold depicted scenes from famous romances, stories from Grecian mythology, pastoral scenes, and contemporary events.

There were thirty-six dossers, banquiers and thirty-six hassocks, and nineteen long-pile carpets. Then there were thirteen “chapel hangings,” with religious subjects, an altar-cloth “entirely of gold and silk,” besides high-warp tapestries “of gold and Arras thread.”

Philip the Good was also a collector of embroidery. In his inventory (1420) are mentioned many “chambres” of velvet and silk, embroidered with gold and silks. More than thirty famous embroiderers were employed regularly at the Court of Burgundy.

There was no more valuable possession in the Middle Ages than tapestry. When Mary of Burgundy was married to the Duke of Cleves in 1415, one prized item in her dowry was a “superb bed of tapestry representing a deer hunt.”

Tapestry was considered one of the most complimentary gifts that could be offered to a royal personage, or diplomatist; and when it is remembered that every nobleman of wealth was a collector, a present of this nature had to be of rare quality and exceptional beauty. The Dukes of Burgundy were fond of making gifts from the looms they patronized.

For example, Philip the Bold sent several pieces to Richard II in 1394 and 1395, and superb sets to the Dukes of Lancaster and York. John the Fearless gave the Earl of Pembroke, ambassador of Henry IV, three handsome pieces, and to the Earl of Warwick, ambassador of Henry V, in 1416, “a rich hanging covered with various figures and numerous birds.” In 1414, a “chambre de tapisserie” was sent as a present to Robert, Duke of Albany, who then governed Scotland.

The weavers of LiÈge boasted as high an antiquity as those of Louvain. The Chronicle of St. Trond says that the weavers in 1133 at St. Trond and Tongres, and they were more independent and high-spirited, or, to quote more exactly, “more forward and proud than other artisans.”

Brussels, which in after years eclipsed both Paris and Arras in the manufacture of tapestries, possessed one corporation only of tapestry-workers (tapitewevers) in 1340. In 1448, these were reorganized under the name of Legwerckers Ambacht (tapestry-weavers trade), but there was no great interest in the Brussels looms until 1466, when Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, bought in that city The History of Hannibal in six pieces and a set of eight landscapes.

The looms of Ypres, Middelburg, Alost, Lille, Valenciennes, Douay and Oudenarde flourished during the fifteenth century. To this list we must add the fine looms of Bruges, established by Philip the Good, which for a time eclipsed all others in Flanders. After Bruges supplied this Duke of Burgundy with The History of the Sacrament and “two chambers of tapestry” in 1440, many commissions were received from foreign countries. The Medicis and other Italian families ordered rich sets, but they supplied their own cartoons by Andrea Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci and other great painters.

Bruges, doubtless, owed no little of its fame as a centre for fine tapestry to the Flemish artists, Memling and the Van Eycks and their school who lived there. It is believed that the famous tapestry that found a home in the ChÂteau des Aygalades, representing the marriage of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany, under the allegorical figures of Esther and Ahasuerus, was made in Bruges. The cartoons have been attributed to the school of Van Eyck.

In 1449–53, Philip ordered from Tournay The History of Gideon and The Story of the Golden Fleece in eight pieces.

In 1430, one Jean Hosemant, a tapestry-weaver of Tournay, was in Avignon and the Pope’s chamberlain, the Archbishop of Narbonne, ordered him to make “a tapestried chamber on the hangings of which were to be represented foliage, trees, meadows, rivers and clouds, as well as birds and quadrupeds.” Italy also attracted the French and Flemish weavers to learn their secrets, and they flocked in numbers to Rome and other cities. Their work was in such demand that the Flemish workers found encouragement everywhere; and in the fifteenth century they emigrated to England, Spain, Italy and even Hungary.

Rinaldo Boteram of Brussels was in charge of the workshop in the court of the Gonzagas in Mantua, where Andrea Mantegna was employed to design the cartoons. Jehan de Bruges and Valentin d’Arras directed the workshops in Venice as early as 1421; Giacomo d’Angelo the Fleming had charge of the Marquis d’Este’s tapestries at Ferrara with a large number of Flemish weavers under him. Flemish workmen and master workmen were engaged in Siena, Florence, Correggio, Urbino and also by the Sforzas in Milan.

A woman was also weaving Arras at Todi in 1468, one Giovanna Francesa, “maestra di panni de arazzi.”

At home, the Flemings grew ever more and more realistic, weaving into their woollen pictures types of character, costumes and scenes with which they were familiar; and while their technical skill was appreciated in Italy, their pictures certainly were not liked. All the orders sent from princely patrons to the looms of the Low Countries were accompanied by cartoons, which became the property of the workshop, and were repeated again and again as their popularity asserted itself. The Italians introduced perspective, clearness of grouping and a dramatic feeling entirely opposed to the Flemish school. The Italian cartoons, particularly those of Raphael and Romano, had a great influence upon the Flemish tapestries.

Like all the other industrial arts, that of the goldsmith flourished under the patronage of the Dukes of Burgundy. They spent an enormous amount of money in acquiring fine pieces of gold and silver and richly set jewels for their own treasury and use, and to give as presents. It was not long before the chief cities in Burgundy, Artois and Flanders saw the workshops of gold and silversmiths multiply greatly and gain a widespread reputation. These goldsmiths not only produced vases and chalices for the churches and chapels and beautiful articles for the Duke’s dressoirs, but they particularly excelled in the setting of jewels and in making beautiful pieces of delicately worked gold and silver, with which the costumes were laden to such an extent that Martial d’Auvergne, the author of Arrets d’amour, says “on s’harnachoit d’orfÉvrerie.”

Some of the Duke’s silver is especially described in his inventory, and among his possessions at the end of the fourteenth century, we find two silver chandeliers for the chapel. The central bulbs were fluted and they were hung with crystal. On the foot, the arms of France were engraved. There were also three other chandeliers (these were evidently what we should now rather call candlesticks), and were carved profusely with big leaves; and also three candlesticks of silver for the “fruiterie,” bearing on the base the arms of the Duke of Burgundy. The foot of another silver-gilt candlestick was decorated with three dragons; another candlestick of white silver (argent blanc) was decorated with the arms of the Dowager Countess of Hainault. In all probability these were among the candlesticks that Charles the Bold took to the Abbey of St. Maximin.

Among the artisans that were patronized by the Dukes of Burgundy, we find the names of Jehan Villain, a goldsmith of Dijon from 1411 to 1431, and valet de chambre to John the Fearless and Philip the Bold; Jehan Pentin, goldsmith of Bruges under Philip the Good; Corneille de Bonte, a celebrated goldsmith of Ghent; and Henry le Backer of Brussels and GÉrard Loyet, both goldsmiths of Charles the Bold. The former executed a famous altar group for the Count of Charolais (Charles the Bold) in 1456, consisting of a great cross at the foot of which knelt the Count and Countess of Charolais with St. George and St. Elizabeth. GÉrard Loyet, who was goldsmith and valet de chambre to Charles the Bold, made in 1466 a statue of gold that the Duke presented to the Cathedral of St. Lambert of LiÈge. He also made in the year of Charles the Bold’s death two silver busts and two statues of that Duke. The busts, of natural size, were made for St. Adrien de Grammont and St. Sebastian of Brussels and the statues for Notre Dame d’Ardembourg and Notre Dame de GrÂce of Brussels. The latter, although of silver, were coloured and were large in size. They represented Charles kneeling with folded hands dressed in armour with sword at his side and wearing the collar of the Golden Fleece.

There is very little furniture of the fourteenth and fifteenth century in existence. One of the few good buildings dating from the fourteenth century is the Guildhouse of the Tanners (Toreken) on the Rue des Peignes, Ghent. The Rijks Museum in Amsterdam has a copy of the solid oak ceiling of the Senate House at Sluis, dating from 1396, an imitation of the ceiling and chimney of the Senate House at Zwolle, built by the architect Berent in 1447; and a cast of an ornamental fireplace of the fifteenth century from the Markiezenhof at Bergen-op-Zoom. The Rijks also owns several Gothic cabinets, and a large Gothic cupboard of the fourteenth century from a convent in Utrecht. The Museum in the Steen, Antwerp, contains some good fifteenth century furniture.

A few names of wood-carvers of this period have survived. For example, the Town Hall of Louvain, the ancient capital of Brabant, is a very rich and lovely example of late Gothic work. It even surpasses the famous Town Halls of Brussels, Oudenarde, Ghent and Bruges. This was built by Matthew de Layens between 1447 and 1463. It is very rich in statues of local celebrities, and the supporting corbels are ornamented with almost detached reliefs representing biblical subjects.

The models in wood for the stone-cutters were executed after the designs of De Layens, by John Vander Eycken, Goswin Van der Voeren, Mathew Keldermans and John Roelants in 1448.

In decorative art, the Gothic style is feebly represented by great names that have survived. Most of the glorious work that was done by the Mediaeval carvers has perished, and the names of its producers have perished with it. Two names, of the period immediately before the Renaissance, of men who applied themselves to the composition and engraving of ornaments have survived. Le MaÎtre À la Navette was born at Zwott; and was at work about 1475. Alart du Hameel was a native of Bois-le-Duc; and lived at the close of the fifteenth century.