The Mortlake manufactory, established by James I near London in 1619, was practically a Flemish manufactory. In a short while its only rival was the Gobelins. The King sent specially to Flanders for skilled workmen and no less than fifty arrived in one month, among whom were Josse Ampe of Bruges, Simon Heyns, Jacques Hendricx, Josse Inghels, and Pierre Foquentin of Oudenarde. Rubens and Van Dyck were commissioned to supply cartoons; but many of the old favourite historical and religious sets of the past century were reproduced. Paris and Hampton Court Palace contain a number of these.

Mortlake had closed when William III ordered his victories to be commemorated in woven pictures. The cartoons for The Battle of Bresgate, The Descent on Tor bay and The Battle of the Boyne, were drawn by Jean Lottin, the painter, and made by Clerck, Vander Borcht, Cobus and De Vos of Brussels.

Flemish tapestry-weavers settled in Sandwich, Canterbury, Maidstone, Norwich and Colchester in 1567–8, after the persecutions of the Duke of Alva; but notwithstanding the good work produced in England, Admiral Howard ordered the famous set of six pieces to commemorate the destruction of the Spanish Armada from the painter H. Cornelis de Vroom of Haarlem and Franz Spierinx of Delft. These fine pieces hung in the House of Lords, London, until destroyed by the fire of 1824.

Religious, mythological and allegorical subjects continue in favour during the seventeenth century; and subjects inspired by contemporary history are also popular. The cartoons by Rubens, however, take precedence of everything; and his History of Achilles, History of Constantine, Scenes from the Old Testament, Triumph of the Church, etc., are reproduced in every workshop in Europe. His most famous work, The History of Marie de’ Medici, was finally completed at the Gobelins manufactory during the reign of Louis Philippe.

In furniture, during the seventeenth century, it may be said that carved figures gradually gave way to turned supports, and uprights; and the surfaces depended for decoration on panelling of geometrical designs and applied ornaments of real or imitation ebony. Another favourite way of decorating the broad surfaces was to inlay them in various designs with wood of different colours. The latter taste rapidly advanced during this century with the constantly increasing importation of the beautifully coloured woods of the East and West Indies. As the Flemish artists, moreover, went so often to Italy for inspiration, Flemish marquetry, doubtless, took its first stimulus from Italian taste. To quote a learned critic^[4]: “The Italians of the Decadence had a passion for ebony and coloured woods, and theatrical and complicated decorations. Furniture completely changed its physiognomy; the decorative panels with all their ornaments, are renounced for plain surfaces on which marquetry can be displayed to advantage. Forsaken by fashion, walnut drops out of use; profiles are multiplied; the fine cuirs that were cut in solid bosses sprawl about in an enervated, weakened fashion; the straight, firm and springing Classic column now becomes twisted and distorted; and the stale and banal decoration has neither sinews nor youth. The sculptor yields his place to the marquetry-worker and the carpenter (menuisier) becomes a cabinet-maker (ébéniste).”^[5]

Until the sixteenth century, marquetry seems to have chiefly consisted of ivory and ebony; but at this period exotic woods began to be employed. Beautiful marquetry was a mark of luxury; for example, in the famous pamphlet L’Isle des Hermaphrodites, directed against Henri III and his Court, the author says: “As for the furniture of wood, we should like to have it all of gold, silver, and marquetry, and the pieces, especially the canopies of the beds, if possible, of cedar, rose, and other odoriferous woods unless you would rather have them of ebony and ivory.”

In this century Italy carried to perfection, the inlay of rare and polished marbles, lapis-lazuli, agates, pebbles, etc., called pietra-dura, and this style was imitated in other countries.

During the Decadence, the old marquetry of wood gave place to incrustations of mother-of-pearl, shell, precious stones and coloured marbles, and the furniture was made even more sumptuous by the additions of chiselled mounts, key-plates, handles, feet, etc., of silver or gilt bronze. Painted glass was also a popular kind of inlay. A good example of this work is in the hospice of Liège—a walnut cabinet with plaques of painted glass in many colours in imitation of what the Italians call mille fiori.

A new kind of marquetry, however, made its appearance in the seventeenth century and gained in popularity. This consisted of large designs of flowers—particularly the tulip—birds and foliage represented in very gaily-coloured woods of many varieties and dyes, and bits of ivory or mother-of-pearl are added to the eyes of birds, or petals of flowers, to give a touch of brilliancy. Cabinets, bedsteads, writing-desks, china-cupboards, tall clocks, the frames of chairs—in short every piece of furniture was subject to this style of decoration. This kind of marquetry was popular in England during the reign of William and Mary, when everything Dutch was the rage. It is well known that the Dutch were even fonder of marquetry than the Flemings. A Dutch cabinet, which depends for its decoration entirely on the contrasted colours and shapes of its inlaid woods, standing on a low frame with spiral legs and knob feet connected by a plain stretcher (see Plate XXXI), is in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam. This is a good specimen of geometrical inlay.

Motives of marquetry of a formal floral nature are reproduced in Fig. 37.

During the Spanish dominion in the sixteenth century, the chair in which great personages sit for their portraits has a high straight back with the side posts usually ending in carved lions’ heads, straight or scrolled arms and carved or plain straight legs connected by stretchers. The feet are sometimes carved with the heads or feet of animals. The back and seat are upholstered with velvet or stamped leather fixed to the frame with large brass-headed nails. This “Spanish chair” was common in Spain, Italy, France and England, as well as in the Netherlands. We find it in the pictures of the great portrait painters of the Renaissance—Raphael, Titian and Velasquez—as well as the great Dutch and Flemish masters. Fig. 36 shows a fine solid and simple example of this style of chair of Flemish workmanship. It is well-proportioned; both front and back legs and the arms are turned, and the stretchers are grooved and shaped. When in use, of course, the seat would be comfortably cushioned. The back, seat and arms are covered with leather.

The most common chair of the seventeenth century, however, is one without arms. It is rather low and is a simplified form of the above “Spanish chair.” A fine early example of this model is represented in Plate XXVIII, now in the Cluny Museum, Paris. It will be noticed that the heads on the back posts are still carved, and that the legs are shaped and turned, while the rails are grooved. The Cluny Museum has a considerable number of Flemish chairs of this style and period. One of them, stamped with the monogram of Christ and the date 1672, probably belonged to an ecclesiastic. The ordinary form of this chair appears on either side of the chimney-piece in Plate XXIV.

The low-backed chair without arms is very common in interior scenes by Dutch and Flemish masters. Sometimes we see guests seated on them at the table; and sometimes it will serve as a seat for a lady as she takes a music-lesson. (See Plate XXXIX.) It is found in various dimensions and proportions. Sometimes it has one set of rungs and sometimes two; sometimes the legs are plain, and sometimes elegantly turned. Sometimes the back posts have lions’ heads and frequently not. (See Plates XXXV and XXXIX, and Fig 35.)

The design by Crispin de Passe, Fig. 32, shows the style for an armchair of the middle of the century. Here the centre of the top back bar is raised with ornamental carving and the lions’ heads are suppressed. A variety of the same style of chair fashionable during the period of Louis XIII is represented by the handsome piece of Flemish workmanship in Plate XXIX, also in the Cluny Museum. The arms and bars and front legs are turned in elegant spirals effectively relieved. The back posts do not rise above the top rail, and have no lions’ heads, but finely carved heads terminate the arms. The back and seat are covered with gilt leather stamped with a beautiful floral design and fastened to the frame with the usual large-headed nails. Sometimes instead of lions’ heads, we find carved heads of other animals and of women. Besides leather and velvet, this style of chair was frequently covered with embroidered material and tapestry.

A Dutch chair of this general form, though with sloping and scrolled arms, is in the Rijks Museum. (See Plate XXXIII.) The legs are turned in spirals; and the back and seat are upholstered with a rich material figured with large flower forms—tulips, roses, irises, etc.

Still another model of this style of armchair with spiral rungs and supports, scrolled arms, carved top and leather back and seat, appears on Plate XXXIV. This is also a Dutch chair in the Rijks Museum. It is interesting to compare it with another armchair on the same plate. This, of carved oak, turned back posts, front legs of carved heavy scrolls, diagonal connecting rails also formed of heavy scrolls, and scrolled front bar, is an interesting example of an armchair of the Dutch work of the Louis XIV period. The back has a central panel with a scrolled frame, elegantly carved. It is filled with woven cane instead of leather, or other upholstery. The seat is cane also. A chair without arms, which looks as if it might have belonged to the same set, though it is now preserved in the Cluny Museum, Paris, is shown in Plate XLV. Another armchair of the same period and general style (see Plate XXXIII) has a carved panel filled with cane, cane seat, scrolled arms, turned rails and legs, and carved front bar. Chairs of this fashion were extremely popular in the Low Countries and in England during the second half of the seventeenth century. In all probability, they originated in the Netherlands, and became familiar and favourites with the exiled Cavaliers between 1640 and 1660; and at the Restoration the style was imported into England. However this may be, this well-known carved oak chair, with cane back and seat, is still popularly known as the “Charles II Chair.” A light Dutch model of this type, with elegantly carved front bar, turned rails and posts and scrolled front legs, is shown in Plate XXXIV. It has no arms and the back panel is divided into two narrow panels of cane, producing a very light and elegant effect. The scrolls of the feet are much lighter and more graceful than those of the armchair at its side.

An armchair of the same style and period, also from the Rijks Museum, is in the centre on Plate XXXV.

The central panel of the back is gracefully treated with open carved and turned work. The panel proper is framed with heavy scrolls, and the central bar is pierced and carved with graceful bellflowers running downwards and upwards. This chute of the bell-flower now becomes a very favourite ornamentation in decorative art, and Bérain, Marot and other artists of the period make free use of it. The curved stretchers with the vase ornament in the centre is very characteristic of Dutch, English, and French furniture of the second half of the seventeenth century. It occurs in ordinary tables, dressing-tables, stands for cabinets, and, in fact, every piece of furniture that stands on four legs. The arms and legs consist of the usual scroll, and the feet of carved bulbs.

A chair with the characteristic scrolled stretcher just alluded to occurs on Plate XXXIII. It is richly carved, and has turned and carved straight legs, with bulbed feet. The back is a richly carved frame, filled with cane. The top is crowned with delicate ribbon and foliage carving, and the shape of the back is a favourite one for the mirrors of the period. The proportions of the seat, which is stuffed and covered with velvet fastened with small brass nails is quite modern. This chair, however, belongs to the end of the seventeenth century. The affinities between the chairs we have been describing and the designs by Marot, which were so popular in Holland, may be studied in the next chapter.

The masters of this school of ornamentation were numerous. Hitherto Flanders has overshadowed the Northern Provinces of the Netherlands in art products; but beginning with De Vries, Holland assumes equal importance. Peter Soutman (Haarlem 1580–1650), was a pupil of Rubens; William Buytenweg worked at Rotterdam; Adrian Muntink was famous in Groningen (circ. 1610); other goldsmiths and engravers, named Laurens, Janss Micker, Geraert van Ryssen, Meinert Gelis, Jacobus van der Tverff, Gerritz Hessel (Amsterdam), Abraham Hecker (Amsterdam), Hendrik de Keyser (Amsterdam), Jacobus Collan (Rotterdam), and Arnold Houbraken (Dordrecht), all flourished during the first half of the seventeenth century. Their motives of garlands, fruits, flowers, human and animal figures, birds, insects, etc., were used in the decoration of sumptuous, carved furniture, and for marquetry and mosaics, as well as for the gold and silver ware of which the nobles and rich merchants were so fond.

Other masters of ornament of the Netherlands of this period, whose works have survived, are Martin van Buten (circ. 1607), Franz Aspruck (circ. 1601), Jacques de Gheyn (circ. 1610), J. B. Barbé (b. 1585), Blondus (1590–1656), Raphael Custode, Michel van Lochon, Henderick Lodeweycke (circ. 1626), André Pauli (circ. 1628).

Following the above, when the style Rubens was giving way to the Decadence, we find Michel Natalis (1609–80), Arthus Quellin (b. 1609), Jacob van Campen (circ. 1660), Peter van den Avont (b. 1619), James Collan (circ. 1650), Arnold Houbraken (d. 1660), L. Hendericks (circ. 1660), Romanus de Hooghe (1638–1718), Gaspard Bouttats, (1640–1703), J. J. Falkema (circ. 1680), Isaac Moucheron (1660–1744), Antony de Winter (circ. 1690), Peter Paul Bouche (circ. 1693), J. Thuys (circ. 1690), J. and F. Harrewyn (circ. 1694), Heinrich van Bein (1689–98), and G. Vischer, Erasmus Kamyn, P. Schentz and M. Heylbrouck, who all worked at the close of the century.

The most extraordinary style of ornamentation employed by the masters of Decorative Art during the seventeenth century is that known as the genre auriculaire. In this, every part of the human ear is used as a decorative motive. The outer rim and lobe had been used long before it was carried to excess. A very early example is shown in the bed dated 1580 on Plate XI where auricular curves are plainly recognizable in the carving.

In the “Buire” (Plate XLVI) by Mosyn, however, this style is seen in its most exaggerated form. This design is by M. Mosyn, an engraver, born at Amsterdam about 1630. His chandeliers are equally extravagant. Peter Nolpe, born at the Hague (1601–70), was another designer of this school, as was also John Lutma of Amsterdam (1609–89). The latter represents the very decadence of art, with his hideous cartouches, compartments, frames and aiguières, composed of distorted and tortured ears. Another master of Amsterdam who published many plates in the same extraordinary taste was Gerbrandt van der Eeckhout. He also worked in the middle of this century. This style attained its greatest vogue in Germany. There Friederich Unteutsch, a master carpenter of Frankfort, published (1650) 110 plates of all kinds of furniture, on which the ear is prominent as an ornament. Daniel Rabel (d. 1637), also used the genre auriculaire in France, but there its life was short and feeble.