Baroque Art in Flanders and Holland: Architecture and Sculpture

The unitary artistic school that had flourished in the old Netherlands during the 15th century, when it was under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy (between 1384 and 1482), ended up dividing into two increasingly divergent schools: the Flemish and the Dutch.

We saw in another essay that during the 16th century, artists born both in Flanders and in northern Dutch provinces participated indiscriminately in the painting of that region of Europe. Thus, the influx of humanistic culture and the Italian influence that had determined the appearance of “Romanist” tendencies and, later, that of Mannerism, occurred simultaneously in both areas of the country.

The artistic divide that we will study now was promoted by political as well as religious events. In the year 1564, the insurrection against the Spanish rule of the House of Austria broke out throughout the country, and in 1581 the political division was finally consummated when the Batavian (or Dutch) Republic was created in the northern ‘Seven United Provinces’ that had embraced Protestantism. Spain recognized the independence of this new State in 1609. Meanwhile, the southern provinces, or Flanders, remained religiously faithful to Rome and politically subject to Spain until they were ceded to Austria in 1715, as a consequence of one of the treaties derived from the war of succession to the Spanish crown. The subsequent artistic split that followed was manifested not only in painting, but also in the other arts.

In architecture, Flanders was characterized by the adoption of the Baroque. In the second half of the 16th century, the Italian-inspired Renaissance had triumphed in Flanders thanks to the work of Cornelis Floris de Vrient (ca. 1514-1575), who built the harmonious Antwerp City Hall (1561-1564), a building that incorporates both Flemish and Italian influences.

The **City Hall** (**Stadhuis**) of Antwerp (Belgium) built between 1561 and 1565, after designs by Cornelis Floris de Vriendt and several other architects and artists.

This architectural “Romanism” perhaps made it easier for Flanders to adopt the baroque style spread by the Jesuits and the Spanish domination, as the Roman style of the Counter-Reformation. Examples are: the Church of Saint John the Baptist at the Béguinage, in Brussels, a work by Lucas Faydherbe (1617-1679) built between 1657-1676 with a characteristic pentagonal tower and a rigorously ornamented façade that looks like an altarpiece, one of the most beautiful façades in Belgium.

The **Church of St. John the Baptist at the Béguinage** (Brussels, Belgium), originally in Gothic style, it was rebuilt in Baroque style between 1657-1676 afteer it was partially destroyed by Calvinists in 1584. It is attributed to the Flemish architect Lucas Faydherbe.

**Church of St. John the Baptist at the Béguinage** (Brussels, Belgium), view of the main nave towards the altar.

There are also, the Church of Our Lady of Saint Peter’s Abbey, in Ghent (begun in 1629); the Church of Saint-Loup, in Namur (1621-1641), and the sumptuous façade of Saint Charles Borromeo (1615-1621) in Antwerp, the first church in the world to be dedicated to the Jesuit founder, Ignatius Loyola.

**Church of Our Lady of Saint Peter’s Abbey** in Ghent (Belgium), begun in 1629.

**Church of** **Saint-Loup**, in Namur (Belgium), built between 1621-1641, it was inspired by the Gesù church in Rome and especially by the church of **Saint Charles Borromeo** in Antwerp (see pictures below).

**Church of** **Saint-Loup**, in Namur (Belgium), view of the main nave towards the altar.

The Church of Saint Charles Borromeo was built by the Jesuit Francois d’Aiguillon (1566-1617) to which Father Pieter Huyssens (1577-1637) added an elegant bell tower and for whose interior Rubens painted a fantastic series of religious compositions, 39 ceiling pieces and two altarpieces. Unfortunately, its vault’s interior decoration (which according to contemporaries “made one think of the Heavens”) was destroyed by a terrible fire in 1718. Today we have to imagine it from the observation of its façade, whose magnificent opulence created the legend that Rubens himself had intervened in its construction. But although this legend is false, it is true that the architecture of this extraordinary temple in Antwerp, due to its spirit and its formal delirium, can be described as “Rubenesque.”

The **Church of Saint Charles Borromeo** in Antwerp (Belgium) built in 1615-1621 after designs by the Jesuit Francois d’Aiguillon, it was inspired by the Church of the Gesù in Rome, the mother church of the Society of Jesus.

Bell tower of the **Church of Saint Charles Borromeo** in Antwerp (Belgium).

The **Church of Saint Charles Borromeo** in Antwerp (Belgium), view of the main nave towards the altar with the altarpiece painted by Rubens.

Perhaps the masterpiece of Flemish Jesuit baroque is the church of Saint Michael, in Leuven, built in 1650-1666 by Fathers Hessius and Fay d’Herbe which, despite its evident influence on Roman baroque models, incorporated local traditions focused on the vertical lines clearly influenced by Gothic styles.

The **Church of Saint Michael**, in Leuven (Belgium) built between 1650-1666 under designs by Fathers Hessius and Fay d’Herbe.

The **Church of Saint Michael**, in Leuven (Belgium), main nave and altar.

The verticalism and the abundance of pinnacles and decorative finials, characteristic of the Flamboyant Gothic, gained new life with the great Baroque influence of the 17th century, which gave a special look to the lavish, gilded and polychrome complex of the Grand’ Place (Groote Markt) in Brussels. All its guild houses were built from 1695 onwards, when a bombardment by the French army completely destroyed the old medieval buildings.

The ***Grand-Place*** or ***Grote Markt*** (“Big Market”) in Brussels (Belgium). As the city’s central square, it is surrounded by opulent Baroque buildings that used to be destined for the different Guilds of Brussels, and two larger edifices: the city’s Flamboyant Gothic Town Hall (at the center in the picture, the square’s only remaining medieval building after the French bombings) and the neo-Gothic ‘King’s House’ or ‘Bread House’ building (from the mid-19th century reconstruction), now the Brussels City Museum.

On the other hand, contrary to the Flemish, Dutch architecture of this period was characterized by the rejection of baroque forms. This tendency also had to do with the establishment of Protestantism and the then growing Dutch bourgeoisie class and its values.

The rich Dutch local bourgeoisie then developed rapidly with the sale of textile from Leiden and Haarlem, the velvets from Utrecht, and the trade of colonial African and Far Eastern products. The East India Company founded Batavia on the island of Java, conquered South Africa and the island of Ceylon, and established fruitful economic relations with China and Japan. This was the moment when Amsterdam became one of the largest cities in Europe and began to control the world market for diamonds and precious metals.

This rich, dynamically expanding Protestant bourgeoisie loved the stately simplicity and simple structures derived from the use of brick, the typically Dutch building material. Thus, a style was developed that is still peculiar to the entire center of Amsterdam today and that gives its quiet poetry to the concentric rings of its beautiful canals.

The canals of Amsterdam. Though Amsterdam has more than 100 kilometers of *grachten* (canals), the three main canals (*Herengracht, Prinsengracht* and *Keizersgracht*) were dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age. They form concentric belts around the city, known as the *Grachtengordel*.

Hendrik de Keyser (1565-1621), author of a treatise in Latin entitled “Modern Architecture” (“Architectura Moderna“, published in 1631), was the architect who, with his multiple construction works, gave Amsterdam its current appearance. De Keyser was the creator of the model of the central-plan Protestant church, which gathers the faithful around the pulpit, with the construction of his Noorderkerk (Northern Church) in Amsterdam, built between 1620 and 1623.

The ***Noorderkerk*** (“Northern Church”) Protestant church in Amsterdam was designed by architect Hendrick de Keyser and built between 1620-1623. Its layout reflects the ideals of the Renaissance and Protestantism. The **Noorderkerk** unique design combines an octagonal floor plan with a structure shaped like a Greek cross, with four arms of equal length. At each corner of the cross, annexed buildings were constructed, and a small tower sits in the center of the cross. Large Tuscan pillars dominate the church interior. The church was built to serve the then rapidly growing population of the new *Jordaan* neighborhood.

Interior view of the central nave and pulpit of the ***Noorderkerk*** in Amsterdam. The Protestant church gives importance to the teaching of the scriptures through preaching, and thus the pulpit becomes a focal point of the church.

In the mid-17th century, Bartholomeus van Bassen and Pieter Noorwits devised another type of church with the Nieuwe Kerk or New Church, in The Hague, built between 1649 and 1656, consisting of two facing apses, each of them surrounded by three apsidal chapels.

The ***Nieuwe Kerk*** (“New Church”) in The Hague (Netherlands) built between 1649 and 1656 after designs by architect Peter Noorwits assisted by the painter and architect Bartholomeus van Bassen. This church is considered a highlight of the early Protestant church architecture in the Netherlands.

A role analogous to that developed by de Keyser in Amsterdam was that played in the city of Haarlem by the works of Lieven de Key (1560-1627), like the Meat Market (Vleeshal, 1602-1603, the only place in Haarlem where fresh meat was allowed to be sold from 1604 to the 18th century) and the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) built in 1613.

The ***Vleeshal*** (“Meat-Hall”) in Haarlem (Netherlands) was designed by Lieven de Key and built from 1602 to 1603. Its function is illustrated by the ox-heads sculptures placed on the front façade of the building.

The Bell Tower of the *Nieuwe Kerk* in Haarlem (Netherlands) was built in 1613 and designed by Lieven de Key.

Around 1630, perhaps due to English influence, a new classical style developed in Holland that fitted perfectly with the taste for simplicity of this rich Dutch bourgeoisie. The most representative building reflecting this trend is the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the famous palace of Prince John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen, today an art museum, built between 1636 to 1641. The Mauritshuis, designed by Jacob van Campen (1595-1657) and his assistant Pieter Post (1608-1669), recalls the Renaissance architecture of Andrea Palladio, though seen through the eyes of the English architect Inigo Jones. Despite its modest dimensions, the Mauritshuis appears as a majestic parallelepiped of brick and sandstone, whose cornice supports six flat pilasters with Ionic capitals. These pilasters, which run from top to bottom of the façade, leaving between them the windows of each of the two floors, reproduce the effect of Palladio’s “gigantic order.”

The ***Mauritshuis*** (“Maurice House”) in The Hague (Netherlands) was built between 1636 and 1641 as a home for John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, as at the time The Hague was the political center of the Dutch Republic. The building was designed by architects Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post. Today, the **Mauritshuis** is a museum that houses the Dutch Royal Cabinet of Paintings, mostly from the Dutch Golden Age.

This classicist trend was immediately followed by other buildings such as the Leiden Cloth Market (Laecken-Halle, 1640), the work of Arent van ‘Gravesande, and by other constructions carried out later by the same architects of the Mauritshuis: Pieter Post designed the notable Maastricht City Hall (1659-1664) and Van Campen built between 1648 and 1665, the grandiose Amsterdam Town Hall, one of the few Dutch buildings in stone, currently the Royal Palace of Amsterdam.

The *Laecken-Halle* (“Cloth Hall”) in Leiden (Netherlands) is now the city museum of fine art and history of the city. It used to serve as the headquarters of the guild for cloth merchants (hence its name). The building was erected in 1640 by Arent van ‘Gravesande.

The ***Stadhuis*** (“City Hall”) of Maastricht (Netherlands) was designed by the Dutch Gold Age architect and painter Pieter Post and built between 1659 to 1664.

The **Royal Palace of Amsterdam** was built as a city hall starting in 1648 and completed in 1665 under the main architect Jacob van Campen.

Floor plan of the **Royal Palace** **of Amsterdam**.

The floor plan of this building is very original: in the center there is the large “Citizens’ Hall”, located between two patios that have no other mission than to give natural light to the interior, reason why they are inaccessible from the first floor, unlike the palaces or villas of Mediterranean tradition. A wide corridor develops around both patios giving access to the various offices and the stairs that go up to the main floor (piano nobile). The most surprising feature is the entrance, which lacks a vestibule and is practically blocked by the “Hall of Justice” (Vierschaar), where death sentences were pronounced. This way of intercepting access to the great “Citizens’ Hall” shows the concern to forbid the entrance to turbulent crowds, since this Dutch Republic was an aristocratic republic of patricians, different from the concept of republic that is derived from the modern ideas of democracy.

View of the *Burgerzaal* (“Citizens’ Hall”) of the **Royal Palace of Amsterdam**. At the far end of the hall a sculpture depicting Atlas carrying the heavens, and below him a group of sculptures depicting Justice, stepping on Greed and Envy, accompanied by death, an hourglass, and attributes of torture to denote the entrance to the Aldermen’s Chamber. The marble floor is inlaid with maps of the eastern and western hemispheres and a map of the northern stars, with the purpose of showing Amsterdam as the center of the universe. These maps, the largest in existence at the time, were based on the work of famous cartographers from the 17th century.

The *Vierschaar* (“Judiciary”) room in the **Royal Palace of Amsterdam**. The *Vierschaar* was a tribunal where death sentences were publicly pronounced. After the trial the prisoners went to the Justice Room, where they were passed through an opening in the wall to the gallows on Dam square.

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The sculpture of the 17th century in Flanders developed with ample and theatrical agitation, completely adopting the baroque style. It is curious that the predominant material employed was un-polychromed wood, in contrast to the large stone masses of the churches. Above all decorative elements, pulpits and confessionals fill the sacred space with their grandiloquent gesticulation that surpasses – without a doubt – the oratory of the great sermons that were delivered there at the time.

**Monumental pulpit**, carved wood, by Michiel Vervoort, 1721-1723 (St-Rumbold’s Cathedral, Mechelen, Belgium). The pulpit was originally carved for the convent church of the sisters of Norbertus of Leliëndaal (now a Jesuit church). After the French Revolution the pulpit was installed in Rumbold’s Cathedral and built around a column by artist Jan-Frans van Geel. At the top, to the right is the scene with the *Fall of man*, to the left is that of the *Salvation*. At the lower end, Saint Norbert falls off of his horse and converts to Christianity.

**Confessional**, carved wood, by anonymous artist, 17th century (Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, Brussels, Belgium).

The best known sculptor outside Flanders was François Duquesnoy, from Brussels, who spent almost his entire life in Rome, where he collaborated with Bernini in the decoration of the Vatican basilica.

**St. Andrew**, marble, by François Duquesnoy, 1629-1633, 4.5 m height (Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Italy). The Flemish sculptor François Duquesnoy lived in Rome between 1618 and 1643, where he collaborated with important Baroque sculptors of the time. His sculpture of Saint Andrew stands in St. Peter’s Basilica opposite Bernini’s St. Longinus. Both figures are unquestionably Baroque, but, in contrast to Bernini’s dynamic composition, Duquesnoy’s figure is absolutely static and posed; even St. Andrew’s slightly overelaborate draperies appear motionless.

But in Flanders, two dynasties of sculptors from Antwerp were important: the Quellin and the Verbruggen. Hendrik Verbruggen was the author of the pulpit of the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula, in Brussels, which reached the most exaggerated baroque fantasy.

**Monumental Pulpit**, gilded oak, by Hendrik Frans Verbrugghen, 1695-1699, 7 m height by 3.5 m width (Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula, Brussels, Belgium). This type of monumental pulpits were sermons in themselves, and they may had scandalized purists and protestants alike. However, they represent the inventive imagination of the constant movement and drama of the northern Baroque. The base of the pulpit represents Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden after taking the ‘forbidden’ fruit (detailed in the picture below). At the top, the Virgin and Child piercing the serpent symbolize redemption.

Scene of ‘Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden’, detail from the **Monumental Pulpit** by Hendrik Frans Verbrugghen in the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula (Brussels, Belgium).

“Death”, detail from the **Monumental Pulpit** by Hendrik Frans Verbrugghen in the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula (Brussels, Belgium).

Artus Quellinus the Elder (1609-1668), after having decorated several churches in Antwerp, was called to Amsterdam where, together with several Dutch sculptors, covered the large rooms of the aforementioned City Hall (today the Royal Palace) with rich sculptural decoration. The result was so extraordinary that contemporaries called this building the “eighth wonder of the world.”

Reliefs in the *Vierschaar* (Tribunal), marble, by Artus Quellinus the Elder, 1651-1654 (Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands). Between 1650 and 1663, Artus Quellinus executed the sculpted decoration for the façades and rooms in the City Hall of Amsterdam. The reliefs and sculptures in the Tribunal (*Vierschaar*) are associated with justice, punishment and death. In this picture of the west wall, we see three carved reliefs showing examples of the administration of justice taken from Roman and biblical history: from right to left, the sentence of Roman council Lucius Junius Brutus, the Greek King Zaleucus and biblical King Solomon, all representing impartial, compassionate and wise sentences respectively. The most eye-catching components though are the large mourning caryatides symbolizing Guilt (with hands covering her face) and Remorse (with bowing head).

**Mercury**, marble, by Artus Quellinus the Elder, 1650s (Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands).

Unlike the temples of Flanders, in Dutch churches the sculpture is almost completely absent, as it was expelled by the puritanism of Protestant worship and it is reduced to funerary representations. Thus, in the churches of Amsterdam, Delft and Leiden, we find tombs with portraits that show harsh realism, they are sculptures from which all allegorical decoration has disappeared.