Part 12

Above it, a tolerable Veronese of *Juno scattering wealth into the lap of Venice, St. Mark’s lion beside her.

140. Beautiful Carlo Crivelli of *Our Lady and Child. This picture and the corresponding one opposite are parts of a large altar-piece, the main portion of which, a Pietà, is in the National Gallery in London.

415. Vannuchi (_not_ Perugino): Leda and the Swan.

412 is a good portrait of Mary of Austria.

634. A tolerable Marriage of the Virgin.

473. Tintoretto: Portrait of a Venetian gentleman.

474. Another by the same.

ROOM VIII.

opposite, also contains later =Italian= pictures, with a few French.

472 is a Martyrdom of St. Mark, by Tintoretto.

497 is a Holy Family by Paolo Veronese, with St. Theresa and St. Catherine.

The other works in the room do not call for notice.

PASSAGE leading into ROOM VI.

Skied. 477. Perugino: Madonna and Child, with the infant St. John of Florence, in a frame of Delia Robbia work. This is one of the best Italian pictures in this Gallery, but not a good example. Near it, School of Mantegna, Christ and St. Thomas with St. John the Baptist.

If you want further information about the pictures in the Brussels Gallery, you will find it in Lafenestre and Richtenberger’s _La Belgique_, in the series of _La Peinture en Europe_.

_D_. THE CATHEDRAL

[The =Cathedral= of Brussels is dedicated to St. Gudula or Ste. Gudule, and to St. Michael the Archangel. Ste. Gudule is a holy person who takes us back to the earlier ages of Christianity among the Middle Franks. She was a member of the family of Pepin d’Heristal, the kinsman of Charlemagne, and she died about 712. She became a nun at Nivelles under her aunt, St. Gertrude. The only fact of importance known as to her life is that she used to rise early, in order to pay her devotions at a distant church, whither she guided her steps by the aid of a lantern. Satan frequently extinguished this light, desiring to lead her feet astray, but the prayers of the saint as often rekindled it. Hence she is usually represented carrying a lantern, with the devil beside her, who endeavours to blow it out.

In the 10th century, the body of Ste. Gudule was brought to Brussels from Morseel; and in the 11th (1047), Lambert, Count of Louvain, built a church on this site above it: but the existing building, still containing the body of the saint, was not begun till 1220.

More important, however, than Ste. Gudule, in the later history of Brussels Cathedral, is the painful mediæval incident of the =Stolen Hosts=. The Jew-baiting of the 14th century led to a story that on Good Friday, 1370, certain impious Jews had stolen 16 consecrated Hosts from the Cathedral, and sacrilegiously transfixed them with knives in their synagogue. The Hosts miraculously bled, which so alarmed the Jews that they restored them to the altar. Their sacrilege was discovered by the aid of an accomplice, and on this evidence several Jews were burned alive, and the rest banished from Brabant for ever. A chapel on the site of the synagogue still commemorates the event, and the Miracle of the Hosts (as it is called) gives rise to several works of art now remaining in the Cathedral. An annual ceremony (on the Sunday after the 15th of July) keeps green the memory of the miraculous bleeding: the identical wafers are then exhibited. Visit the =interior= between 12 and 4, when the doors are closed, but will be opened for you by a sacristan in the South Portal, at a charge of 50 c. per head. You will then be able to inspect the whole place peaceably at your leisure. Take your opera-glasses.]

Approach the =Cathedral=, if possible, from the direction of the Grand’ Place. It is built so as to be first seen from this side, and naturally turns its main West Front towards the older city. Go to it, therefore, by the street known as the Rue de la Montagne and the short (modern) Rue Ste. Gudule, which lead straight up to the handsome (recent) staircase and platform. The building loses much by being approached sideways, as is usually the case, from the Upper Town, which did not exist at all in this direction when the Cathedral was built. Consider it in relation to the nucleus in the valley.

First examine the =exterior=. The accompanying rough plan will sufficiently explain its various portions.

The =façade= has two tall towers, and a rather low gable-end, with large West Window. In style, it approaches rather to German than to French Gothic. Over the _Principal Entrance_ are (restored) figures of the Trinity, surrounded by angels, with the Twelve Apostles, each bearing his symbol or the instruments of his martyrdom. Below, on the central pillar, the Three Magi, the middle one a Moor. High up on the gable-end is the figure of Ste. Gudule, the human patron, with the Devil endeavouring to extinguish her lantern. Above her is the other and angelic patron, St. Michael. (These two figures also occur on the middle of the carved wooden doors.) At the sides, two bishops, probably St. Géry and St. Amand. Though the sculpture is modern, it is of interest from the point of view of symbolism. The _left portal_ has St. Joachim, St. Anne, and the education of the Virgin. The _right portal_ has St. Joseph and Our Lady with the Divine Infant.

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Now, =go round the building= to the R., to observe its arrangement. You pass first the _chapels_ or _bays_ of the =S. Aisle=, with weather-beaten sculpture, and then reach the slightly projecting =South Transept=. Beyond the South Portal, the =Choir= is hidden by the addition of a large projecting =chapel= (that of Notre-Dame-de-Délivrance), whose architecture will be better understood from the interior. At the East End, you get a good view of the Gothic =Choir= and =Apse=, with its external chapels and flying buttresses. The extreme East point is occupied by the ugly little hexagonal rococo _Chapel of the Magdalen_, a hideous addition of the 18th century. Still passing round in the same direction, you arrive at a second projecting =Chapel= (du Saint Sacremént), which balances the first. The best =general view= is obtained from the North Side, taking in the beautiful porch of the =North Transept=. (The handsome Louis XVI. building opposite is the _Banque Nationale_.)

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The Cathedral as an interior is disappointing. It contains no pictures of any importance, and its architecture is less striking within than without. =The stained glass=, indeed, is famous; none of it, however, is mediæval. The best windows date only from the High Renaissance; the remainder are 17th century or modern.

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Walk first into the =centre of the Church=, where you can gain a good idea of the high Choir, with its Apse and Triforium of graceful Early Gothic architecture, as well as of the short Transepts, the two additional chapels, R. and L., the Nave and single Aisles, and the great west window.

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Now, begin the tour of the church with the =South Aisle=, to the L. as you enter. The glass here is modern. It represents the story of the Stolen Hosts, some of the subjects being difficult to decipher. We see the Jew bribing a Christian, who removes the Hosts in a monstrance: then the Christian departing from the Jewish Synagogue with his ill-gotten gains. The third window I do not understand. After that, we see the Jews betrayed by one of their number; the Miracle of the Blood, with their horror and astonishment; the Recovery of the Hosts; and in the =North Aisle=, their Return to the Church in procession, and the various miracles afterward wrought by them. I cannot pretend to have deciphered all these accurately. The =Nave= has the usual Flemish figures of the Twelve Apostles set against the piers, most of them of the 17th century. The great =west window= has the Last Judgment, by Floris, a poor composition, overcrowded with indistinguishable figures.

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The =pulpit=, by Verbruggen, is one of the usual unspeakable abominations of seventeenth century wood-carving. Below are Adam and Eve driven from Paradise: above, on the canopy, the Virgin and Infant Saviour wound the serpent’s head with the cross: the Tree of Life, supporting the actual platform, gives shelter to incredible birds and animals. This ugly object was made for the Jesuits’ Church at Louvain, and given to the Cathedral by Maria Theresa on the suppression of the Society of Jesus.

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Return to the =Transepts=. The window in the _North Transept_ represents Charles V., kneeling, attended by his patron, Charlemagne, who was a canonized saint, but who bears the sword and orb of empire. Behind him, Charles’s wife Isabella, with her patroness, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, holding the crown. This window, erected in 1538, from designs by Bernard van Orley, was the gift of the Emperor. That in the _South Transept_ represents the Holy Trinity, with King Louis of Hungary kneeling in adoration, attended by his patron, St. Louis of France. Behind him is his Queen, Marie (sister of Charles V.), with her patron, the Blessed Virgin. This window also is by Van Orley.

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Now, enter the =Chapel= by the North Transept, that of =the Holy Sacrament=, erected in 1535-39, in honour of the Miraculous (Stolen) Hosts, which are still preserved here, and which are carried in procession annually on the Sunday following the 15th of July. The windows in this chapel, each of which bears its date above, were placed in it immediately after its erection, and are the best in the Cathedral. They exhibit the style of the Transitional Renaissance. Each window shows, above, the story of the Stolen Hosts, with, below, the various donors and their patrons. _First window_ as you enter: Above, the Bribery: below, King John III. of Portugal with his patron, St. John-Baptist; and Queen Catherine, his wife (sister of Charles V.), with her patron, St. Catherine, holding her sword of martyrdom and trampling on the tyrant Maximin: (all by Michael Coxcie). _Second window_: above, the Hosts insulted in the Synagogue: below, Louis of Hungary, with his patron, St. Louis; and Marie, his wife (sister of Charles V.), with her patroness, Our Lady (Coxcie). _Third window_: above, same subject as in the 3rd of the S. Aisle—perhaps the attack on the Jews: below, Francis I. of France, with his patron, St. Francis, receiving the Stigmata; behind him, Eleonora, his wife (sister of Charles V.), with her patroness, St. Helena (Bernard van Orley). _Fourth window_: above, Denunciation of the Jews: below, Ferdinand, brother of Charles V., with his patron, St. Ferdinand; and his wife, Anne, with her patron, St. Anna (Bernard van Orley). The _end window_ represents the Adoration of the Holy Sacrament, and of the Lamb that was slain, in a composition suggested by the Van Eyck at Ghent. Below, to the L. are an Emperor and Empress (Charles V. and Isabella), a king and queen, and other representatives of the world secular: to the R. are a pope, a cardinal, bishops, prophets, and other representatives of the church or the world ecclesiastical.

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Now, proceed to the =opposite chapel=, by the S. Transept, that of =Our Lady of Deliverance= (Notre-Dame de Délivrance). This chapel was erected in 1649-53, to balance that in the N. Transept. Its windows, made after designs by Van Thulden, in 1656, represent the continued decadence of the art of glass-painting. The subjects are taken from the History of Our Lady, above, with the donors and their patrons, princes of the House of Austria, below. Unlike the last, the subjects here begin at the _inner end_, near the altar. _First window_: the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple. She mounts the steps to the High Priest: below are St. Joachim and St. Anna. _Second window_: The Marriage of the Virgin. _Third window_: The Annunciation, with the Angel Gabriel and the Dove descending in a glory. _Fourth window_: The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth: the figure of Mary, in its odd hat, taken from the Rubens in Antwerp Cathedral. The Austrian Princes and Princesses below, in the insipid taste of the 17th century, have commemorated their own names so legibly on the bases that I need not enumerate them.

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Now, return to the N. Transept, to make the tour of the =Ambulatory=. At the entrance to the Apse, L., is a colossal statue of the patroness, Ste. Gudule, with the Devil under her feet. The stained glass of the Apse is good modern. Notice the fine pillars to your right. The hexagonal rococo =Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen=, at the end of the Apse, has modern windows of, L. and R., the two patrons, St. Michael and Ste. Gudule, the latter with the lantern and Devil: and, Centre, the Trinity. Exit from the Apse: L., gilded statue of the other patron, St. Michael, to balance the Ste. Gudule. Beside it, curious wooden Easter Sepulchre, with Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, the Mater Dolorosa, and the Maries. Above it, the Risen Christ, with Roman soldiers on the pediment. Fine view from near this point of the Choir and Transepts.

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The high =Choir= has in its Apse stained-glass windows (use your opera-glass), representing Our Lady, and the patron saints, with various kings and queens in adoration (middle of the 16th century). The portraits are (1) Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy: (2) Philippe le Beau, their son, with his wife, Johanna the Mad, of Castille: (3) Charles V. and his brother Ferdinand, sons of Philippe: (4) Philip II. of Spain, son of Charles V., with his second wife. The architecture here is Early Gothic and interesting.

_E_. THE UPPER TOWN

From the Grand’ Place, two main lines of streets lead towards the =Upper Town=. The first, which we have already followed, runs straight to the Cathedral; the second, known as the Rue de la Madeleine and then as the =Montagne de la Cour=, mounts the hill to the =Place Royale=.

The city of the merchants lay about the Hôtel-de-Ville, the Senne, and the old navigation. The town and court of the =Counts of Louvain= and =Dukes of Brabant= clustered about the Castle on the high ground overlooking the Lower City. On this hill, the =Caudenberg=, the Counts of Louvain built their first palace, close to what is now the Place Royale. Their castle was burnt down in 1731, but the neighbourhood has ever since been the seat of the Belgian court for the time being—Burgundian, Austrian, Dutch, or Coburger. All this quarter, however, has been so greatly altered by modern “improvements” that scarcely a relic of antiquity is now left in it, with the exception of a few mediæval churches.

In spite of the competition of the Central or Inner Boulevards, the =Montagne de la Cour=, which mounts directly from the Grand’ Place to the Cour (the residence of the Dukes or afterwards of the Emperors and the Austrian Viceroys), still remains the principal street for shopping in Brussels. It takes one straight into the =Place Royale=, one of the finest modern squares in Europe, occupying in part the site of the old Castle. Its centre is filled by the famous *statue of =Godfrey de Bouillon= by Simonis: the great Crusader is represented on horseback, waving his banner, and crying his celebrated cry of “Dieu le veut!” The unimpressive =Church=, with Corinthian pillars, a crude fresco in the pediment, and a green cupola, which faces you as you enter, is =St. Jacques sur Caudenberg=. To R. and L. you open up vistas of the =Rue de la Régence= and the =Rue Royale=. The former is closed by the huge mass of the new =Palais de Justice=. The latter ends in the great domed church of =Ste. Marie de Schaerbeck=.

In order to gain a proper conception of the Upper Town, one of the best-arranged in Europe, you must take the Place Royale and the Ancienne Cour (just below it) as your starting-point. The Place, the Park, and the streets about them were all laid out, under Austrian rule, at the end of the 18th century (1774) by the architect Guimard, who thus made Brussels into the handsome town we now see it. Turning to the R. from the Place Royale, towards the Rue de la Régence, you come first to the gateway of a courtyard, guarded by sentinels. Disregarding these, push past them into the court as if the place belonged to you. The quadrangle you have entered is the site of the old Palace of the Dukes of Brabant, for which the present building, known as the =Ancienne Cour=, was substituted by the Austrian Stadtholders in 1731 after the great fire. The first building to your L. is occupied by the Royal Museum and Library. The portion of the building at the end of the court, in a semi-circular recess, contains the MODERN PICTURE GALLERY (open daily from 10 to 4, free). In this gallery are collected the chief works of the modern Belgian School of Painters, which the tourist should not omit to study, but a full description of which lies wholly outside the scope of these Guide Books.

[This =modern Belgian School= was started in Antwerp, after the Revolution of 1830. It answered at first to the romantic movement in France (headed by Delaroche, Géricault, and others:) but the Belgian painters dealt mainly in historical pictures drawn from the struggles for liberty in their own country. The most distinguished of these “romantic” Belgian artists were Louis Gallait and Edouard de Bièfve, whose chief national works are to be seen in this gallery. Though they belong to a type which now strikes us as mannered and artificial, not to say insipid, they may help to impress historical facts on the spectator’s memory. A very different side of the national movement will meet us at Antwerp. The later Belgian School has been gradually swamped by Parisian tendencies.]

Returning to the Place Royale, and continuing along the =Rue de la Régence=, the first building on the L. closed with a grille, is the Palace of the Comté de Flandre. Nearly opposite it (with four granite pillars) is the Palais des Beaux-Arts, containing the Ancient Pictures (already noticed). Further on to the R. we arrive at the church of =Notre-Dame-des-Victoires= (“Église du Sablon”), to be described in detail hereafter. The pretty and coquettish little garden on the L. is the =Square= or =Place du Petit Sablon=. It contains a modern monument to Counts Egmont and Hoorn, the martyrs of Belgian freedom, by Fraikin, and is worth a visit. The little statuettes on the parapet of the square represent artisans of the old Guilds of Brussels. The building at the back of the Place is the Palace of the Duke d’Arenberg: its central part was Count Egmont’s mansion (erected 1548). Further on, to the L., come the handsome building of the Conservatoire de Musique and then the Jewish Synagogue. The end of the street is blocked by the gigantic and massive _façade_ of the new =Palais de Justice=, one of the hugest buildings of our period, imposing by its mere colossal size and its almost Egyptian solidity, but not architecturally pleasing. The interior need not trouble you.

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=Northward= from the Place Royale, again, stretches the =Rue Royale=, along which, as we walk, we have ever before us the immense gilt dome of =Ste. Marie de Schaerbeck=. This fine street was admirably laid out in 1774 by the architect Guimard, who was the founder of the modern plan of Brussels. It is a fine promenade, along the very edge of the hill, beautifully varied, and affording several attractive glimpses over the earlier town by means of breaks in the line of houses, left on purpose by Guimard, some of which have, however, been unfortunately built up. Starting from the Place Royale, we have first, on our R., the Hôtel Bellevue; beyond which, round the corner, facing the Park, extends the unprepossessing white _façade_ of the =King’s Palace= (18th century, rebuilt). Then, again on the R., we arrive at the pretty little =Park=, laid out by Guimard in 1774, on the site of the old garden of the Dukes of Brabant. This is a pleasant lounging-place, animated in the afternoon, when the band plays. It contains ponds, sculpture, nursemaids, children, and one of the principal theatres.

Continuing still northward, we pass the Statue of Belliard, in the first break, and then the Montagne du Parc, L., leading direct to the Lower Town. At the end of the Park, the Rue de la Loi runs R., eastward, towards the Exhibition Buildings. The great block of public offices in this street, facing the Park, includes the Chamber of Representatives (=Palais de la Nation=) and the principal Ministries. Beyond these we get, on the L., a glimpse of the Cathedral, and on the R. a number of radiating streets which open out towards the fashionable =Quartier Léopold=. Then, on the L., we arrive at the =Place du Congrès= with its Doric =column=, commemorating the Congress which ratified the Independence in 1831. It can be ascended (193 steps, spiral) for the sake of its admirable =*view=, the best general outlook to be obtained over Brussels. (A few sous should be given to the guardian.) The prospect from the summit (morning light best) will enable you to identify every principal building in the city (good map by Kiessling, 72, Montagne de la Cour).

Continuing our route, the street to the R. leads to the little Place de la Liberté. Beyond this, the Rue Royale goes on to the Outer Boulevards, and finally ends at =Ste. Marie de Schaerbeck=, a gigantic modern Byzantine church, more splendid than beautiful, but a good termination for an afternoon ramble.

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