Vanished towers and chimes of Flanders Part 10

Jean le Saive of Namur, son of Le Saive the Elder, was born in the commencement of the seventeenth century. He painted animals, landscapes, and historical subjects. In the latter genre he is inferior to his father; his color is drier, and his drawing less correct. The date of his death is not recorded.

George Biset, painter-decorator, entered the studio of Michel c.o.xie (Third) in 1615. He lived throughout his life at Malines, and died 1671.

His son, Charles Emmanuel, born 1633, was an excellent portrait painter, enjoying much appreciation at the Court of France. He became Burgess of Antwerp in 1663, and was elected a Director of the Academy. He died at Breda in 1685.

Martin Verhoeven was elected to the Gild in 1623. He painted flowers and fruit pieces which enjoyed great celebrity.

His brother Jean was known as a portraitist of great ability. In late life he produced some good sculptures.

David Herregouts, born 1603, was elected to the Gild in 1624. Examples of his work are rare. He died at Ruremonde. His son Henri was a pupil of his father. David went to Italy, residing at Rome. After traveling in Germany he returned to Malines, and died at Antwerp at an advanced age.

Jacques de (or Van) Homes, painter in distemper, was a pupil of Gregoire Berincx (Second) and executed much work in "cisele" under the direction of Fayd'herbe. He died in 1674.

Jean Philippe Van Thieleu, born 1618, was an eminent flower and still-life painter, under the guidance of Daniel Zeghers. He was patronized by the King of Spain, and died in 1674.

Ferdinand Elle, born 1631, according to some; in 1612, say other accounts, painter of portraits, went to Paris, where he remained until his death in 1660(?).

Gilles (or Egide) Smeyers, historical painter, was born in 1635, and studied under his father Nicholas, later under Jean Verhoeven. In friendship for his companion and master Luc Franchoys the younger, he finished many of the latter's incompleted works after his death.

His son Jacques, born 1657, was admitted to the Gild in 1688, and died in 1732.

Egide Joseph, natural son of Jacques, born 1694, was an historical painter, as well as a poet. He lived at Dusseldorf for three years.

Obliged to support his sick parents, he did a great deal of work.

Smeyers had a profound knowledge of the Latin tongue, which he wrote with great fluency and ease, in both poetry and prose. He possessed, too, a working knowledge of French, German, and Italian. His historical works are many. At length, sick and helpless, he was admitted to the hospital of Notre Dame, where he died in 1771. He painted the large portrait of Cardinal Thomas Philippe d'Alsace, Archbishop of Malines.

Daniel Janssens, born in 1636, was a painter-decorator of the first order. He adopted the manner of Jacques de Hornes of whom he was the favorite pupil. After having resided in Antwerp for some years he returned to Malines, where he died in 1682. He it was who designed and constructed the immense triumphal arch for the Jubilee of 1680. This arch is preserved in the Town Hall, and serves to decorate the facade of the "Halles" on the occasion of the Grandes Fetes.

Sebastian Van Aken, born 1648, was pupil of Luc Franchoys the Younger.

Later he entered the studio of Charles Maratti in Rome. After painting in Spain and Portugal he returned to Malines, where he died in 1722.

August Casimir Redel, born 1640. This painter of merit became insane from excesses and died in 1687. He was also the author of a life of St.

Rombaut (Rombold) and wrote much in verse. He composed an ode on the occasion of the Jubilee of Malines in 1680.

Jacques la Pla, pupil of Jean le Saive, a master painter of Malines in 1673, died in 1678.

Jean Barthelemy Joffroy, born 1669, was historian, painter, and engraver. He died 1740.

Jean Joseph Van Campenhout, designer and engraver. He was designer of the great book of the "Cavalcade of Malines" in 1775.

Antoine Opdebeek, born 1709, author of many paintings of merit, was an untaught genius. Employed in the hospital of St. Hedwige in Malines, he taught himself the art, with success, but never reached the height which would have been his had he had instruction in his youth. He died 1759.

Pierre Antoine Verhulst, born 1751, painter of marines and landscape, which he executed with great delicacy and charm, died 1809.

Matthieu Joseph Charles Hunin, born 1770, was a master engraver, producing many plates after Rubens and other masters. To his talent is also due a great number of original engravings of the Tower of St.

Rombold; the interior and exterior of the Cathedral of Antwerp; the Hotels de Villes of Oudenaarde, Brussels and Louvain, etc., etc. He died in 1851.

His son, Pierre Paul Aloys, born 1808, was a genre painter of great taste and renown. His works in which the painting of silk and satin appeared were in great demand. He was professor of the Malines Academy, and in 1848 Leopold I conferred upon him the decoration of the Order of Leopold. He died February 27th, 1855. Many of his paintings have been reproduced in engravings.

Jean Ver Vloet, the _doyen_ of the artists of Malines, died October 27th, 1869, after a long and successful artistic career. One of the founders of the society "Pour l'Encouragement des Beaux Arts" of Malines, he was indefatigable in all art movements of the town. To him was due the success of the magnificent Cavalcades for which Malines has been famous. For fifty years he was the director of the Academy of Design and Painting of his native town.

This ends the list of famous painters of Malines, and so far as I know it is the first and only one in English. Did s.p.a.ce permit I might include the architects who made Flanders famous the world over as the cradle of art and architecture.

A Word About the Belgians

A Word About the Belgians

The little country called Belgium, it should be remembered, dates only from 1830, when the existing const.i.tution was prepared and adopted for the nine southern provinces of the ancient Netherlands. The sudden and unexpected revolt against the Dutch in that year has been since styled "a misunderstanding" upon the part of the Belgians, and was brought about by the action of the King, William I, of the house of Orange-Na.s.sau, who attempted ostentatiously to change at once the language and religion of his southern subjects. They were both Roman Catholic and conservative to the last degree, attached to traditional rights and forms and fiercely proud of the ancient separate const.i.tutions of the southern provinces, which could be traced back to the charters of the Baldwins and Wenceslas.

Undoubtedly the French Revolution of 1830, which closed the Monarchy of the Bourbons, hastened the crisis. For the Belgians had no liking for the rule of the House of Orange-Na.s.sau against which they had discontentedly struggled for some years more or less openly. But matters might have gone on thus indefinitely had not the French Revolution furnished ground for hope of support from a people akin in religion and language, as well as race. The smouldering fire of discontent broke into fierce flame on August 25th, 1830, in the city of Brussels, during a performance of the opera "Muette de Portici," when the tenor was singing the inspired words of Ma.s.saniello:

"Plutot mourir que rester miserable, Pour un esclave est-il quelque danger?

Tombe le joug qui nous accable, Et sous nos coups perisse l'etranger.

Amour sacre de la patrie, Rends nous l'audace et la fierte; a mon pays je dois la vie, Il me devra sa liberte!"

The immense audience, roused to patriotic enthusiasm, took up the words of the song and, rushing from the theatre _en ma.s.se_, paraded the streets, attacking the residences of the Dutch ministers, which they sacked and burned.

The few troops in the town were powerless to stem the revolt, which grew until Brussels was entirely in the hands of the revolutionists, who then proceeded to appoint a Council of Government, which prepared the now celebrated Doc.u.ment of Separation.

William sent his son, the Prince of Orange, to treat with the Council, instead of sending a force of soldiers with which the revolt might have been terminated easily, it is claimed. The Prince entered Brussels accompanied only by a half dozen officers as escort. After three days'

useless parley, he returned to King William with the "Doc.u.ment of Separation."

The reply of the King to this message was made to the Dutch Chambers ten days later. Denouncing the revolt, he declared that he would never yield to "pa.s.sion and violence." Orders were then issued to Dutch troops under Prince Frederick of Holland to proceed to Brussels and retake the city.

The attack was made upon the four gates of the walled city on September 23rd. The Belgians prepared a trap, cunningly allowing the Dutch soldiers to enter two of the gates and retreating towards the Royal Park facing the Palace. Here they rallied and attacked the troops of William from all sides at once. Joined by a strong body of men from Liege they fought for three days with such ferocity that Prince Frederick was beaten back again and again, until he was forced to retreat at midnight of the third day.

In the battle six hundred Belgian citizens were slain, and to these men, regarded now as the martyrs of the Revolution, a great monument has been erected in the Place des Martyrs, near the trench in which they were buried.

A provisional government was now formed which issued the following notice: "The Belgian provinces, detached by force from Holland, shall form an independent state." Measures were taken to rid the country of the Dutch, who were expelled forcibly across the border.

Envoys to Paris and London presented doc.u.ments to secure sympathy for the new government, while the fight for independence was still going on fiercely. Waelhern and Berchem, besieged by the Belgian volunteers, soon fell, and the city of Antwerp was occupied by them before the end of October.

Then the Conference of the Five Powers, sitting in London, interposed to force an armistice in order to determinate some understanding and arrangement between the Dutch and the Belgians, since it had become evident that the Netherlands kingdom of 1815 had practically come to an end. By the treaty of London in 1814, and that of Vienna in 1815, Belgium, after a short interregnum of Austrian rule, was incorporated with Holland into the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In the s.p.a.ce of a month then the Belgian patriots had accomplished their task, and on November 18th the National a.s.sembly, convoked, declared as its first act the independence of the Belgians.

It was now necessary to find a head upon which to place the crown. The first choice of the provisional government was the Duc de Nemours, the son of Louis Philippe, but objection was made to him on the ground that his selection would add too much, perhaps, to the power of France, so his candidature was withdrawn.

Choice was fixed finally upon Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who had but recently declined the throne of Greece by advice of the European diplomats. A resident of England, this Prince, who had espoused Princess Charlotte, the daughter of George IV, was well known as a most clear headed diplomat, a reputation he enjoyed during his whole career.

In his acceptance he said: "Human destiny does not offer a n.o.bler or more useful task than that of being called to found the independence of a nation, and to consolidate its liberties."

The people hailed and received him with great enthusiasm, and on July 21st he was crowned King of the Belgians, with most impressive ceremonies, at Brussels. The Dutch, however, viewed all this with much concern, and at once began hostilities, thinking that the powers would sustain them rather than permit France to occupy Belgium. At once Dutch troops were ma.s.sed for attack on both Brussels and Louvain. Outnumbered by the Dutch, the badly organized national forces of Belgium met disaster at Ha.s.selt, and, realizing his peril, Leopold besought the French, who were at the frontier, to come to his a.s.sistance.

Simultaneously with the a.s.sault on Louvain, therefore, the French troops arrived at Brussels. Great Britain now entered the fray, threatening to send a fleet of warships to occupy the Scheldt unless King William recalled his army from Belgium. This settled the matter, and the Dutch withdrew. The French likewise returned to their own territory. Jealousy, however, was manifested by Austria, Prussia and Russia toward the new kingdom, and their refusal to receive Leopold's amba.s.sadors was calculated to encourage hope in Holland that the reign of the new monarch was to be limited.