Crispin de Passe, or Van der Passe the elder, was born in Arnemuiden about 1560, and was a pupil of Dirk Coornhert (born in Amsterdam in 1522, died in Gouda in 1590). He left a great number of compositions and many remarkable portraits painted in Germany, France, and England, as well as in Holland. A writer, too, of considerable merit, he published many works which he illustrated with his own engravings. In 1585, he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke of Antwerp. Being such a fine engraver, it is not astonishing to find that he excelled in niello-work. His composition in this medium, representing “The Five Senses,” resembles in its delicacy the lace, embroidery and incrustations of ivory of the same period. His patterns, sometimes in relief and sometimes in depression, sometimes in white and sometimes in black, are very beautiful. Crispin de Passe had three sons: Crispin (born in Utrecht in 1585); William (1590); and Simon (1591), all of whom were excellent engravers. His daughter, Madeleine (born 1583), was also a good engraver.

Among the famous engravers also were the Collaerts. Adrian Collaert, born in Antwerp in 1560, was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke in 1580, and died in 1618. He studied in Italy and on his return composed and engraved many designs of great merit. His son, Hans, born in Antwerp, was also a designer and engraver of note. He worked until 1622. His son, William, was a famous engraver.

Adrian Collaert’s designs for goldsmith’s work, silver plate and all artistic products of that nature had a great vogue, and worthily represent the decorations of the Flemish Renaissance. Two of his characteristic designs are reproduced in Plate XXI and Plate XXII.

Wood-carving continued to be one of the glories of Flemish Art. Sixteenth century pulpits, bishops’ thrones and choir-stalls still exist in many of the old churches. The names of some of the masters of the chisel who executed these beautiful works have been preserved, and may properly be recalled here.

St. Martin’s Church at Ypres contains beautiful stalls carved by Victor Taillebert. He received four thousand florins in payment for his work.

Colyn van Cameryck made a magnificent marble mantelpiece for the Kampen Town Hall. The work was done between 1543 and 1545.

Jean van der Scheldein, carpenter and sculptor, made a monumental door in the Hôtel de Ville, Oudenarde, in the Renaissance style in 1531. This is ornamented with columns, a pediment, figures and rectangular panels adorned with arabesques in the best taste and with masterly execution.

Peter van Dulcken carved the beautiful stalls for the échevins, and the balustraded screen of the Nimeguen Town Hall, in the second half of the sixteenth century. These are the finest that have escaped destruction except those of the Kampen Town Hall, which are even more elaborate.

The Netherlands early enjoyed a reputation for music, and from about 1450 to 1550 the most celebrated “maîtres de chapelle” came from the Low Countries. They were engaged in the churches and in the courts of kings and establishments of the nobility in France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Denmark and Spain. Guicciardini says they had brought music “to a state of perfection,” and praises the melodious songs of the men and the skill of the women who played all kinds of instruments. He also pays tribute to their knowledge of harmony and proficiency in composition and says that Flemish musicians are at the “Court of every Christian prince,” and he then gives a list of famous musicians of the Low Countries. These are “Giovanni del Tintore di Nivelli, Iusquino di Pres, Obrecht Ockegem, Ricciafort, Adriano Willaert, Giovanni Monton, Verdelot, Gomberto Lupus Lupi, Cortois Crequillon, Clementi non Papa and Cornelio Canis.” To these, “who are now dead,” he adds the following list of living celebrities: Cipriano de Rove, Gian le Coick, Filippo de Monti, Orlando di Lassus, Mancicourt, Iusquino Baston, Christiano Hollando, Giaches di Waet, Bonmarche, Severino Cornetto, Piero du Hot, Gherardo di Tornout, Huberto Waelrant, Giachetto di Berckem vicino d’Anversa, Andrea Peuermage and Cornelio Verdonk and “many other masters of music who are celebrated throughout the world.”

This universal love of music is attested by the Dutch and Flemish masters. In tavern scenes, as well as scenes of domestic and social life, musical instruments are frequently introduced. To catalogue the works of Jan Steen, Terborch, Teniers, Metsu, Van Mieris and other painters of the seventeenth century directly inspired by music, such as musical parties, harpsichord lessons, duets, lute-players, ladies at the spinet, etc., would be quite a task.

No home of wealth was complete without musical instruments, and owing to the exquisite paintings with which the case and top, both inside and out, were ornamented, the clavecin, harpsichord, or spinet was frequently the handsomest and costliest piece of furniture in the house. The case and legs were subject to changes in fashion. Sometimes the stand is simple with heavy ball feet connected by stretchers, as shown in Plate XXIII, a Lady Playing the Spinet, by J. M. Molenaer, in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam. Sometimes the instrument stands on baluster legs and arches; and sometimes case and stand are of lacquer in the prevailing taste for the Chinese style. The top was always delicately painted, as shown in the picture just referred to; and it is interesting to note that in nearly every case where a lady is playing an instrument, she rests her foot upon a foot-warmer.

Without being able to see the internal mechanism, it is difficult to define the precursors of the pianoforte from their outward appearance in the pictures.

These instruments were so beautifully decorated that the clavecin-makers of Antwerp ranked as artists and became members of the St. Luke’s Guild of that city. They were first enrolled as “painters and sculptors,” and not as clavecin-makers.

According to a pamphlet entitled Recherches sur les Facteurs de Clavecins et les Luthiers d’Anvers, by the Chevalier Léon de Burbure (Brussels, 1863), at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, the clavichord was in greater vogue than the clavecin, and about 1500 the clavecin had been made into the clavichord shape in Venice and called the spinet. The new form soon travelled to the Netherlands and superseded the clavichord.

A clavecin-maker named Josse Carest or Joos Kerrest was admitted to the St. Luke’s Guild as “a sculptor and painter of clavichords” as noted in De Liggeren en andere Historische Archieven der Antwerpsche Sint Lucasgilde, by Rombouts en van Lerius (Antwerp and The Hague, 1872), and another Carest had been admitted in 1519 as an apprentice painter of clavecins. In 1557, Josse Carest headed a petition of clavecin-makers to be admitted to the St. Luke’s Guild as clavecin-makers and not as painters and sculptors. They were accepted. Their pupils and all who were subsequently admitted had to exhibit “master-works,” namely: “clavecins” that were oblong or with bent sides (square or grand, we should call them now) or to quote directly “viercante oft gehoecte clavisimbale.” These had to be five feet long at least and made in the workshops of master-experts (two of whom were yearly elected) and to have the trade mark or device of the maker “syn eygen marck teecken, oft wapene.” This mark, known as rose, rosetta or rosace, usually made of gilded lead, was placed in the sound-holes.

The most famous clavecin-makers of Antwerp, and, indeed, of The Netherlands, were the Ruckers, who worked between 1579 and 1667, or later. The name is variously written. The most celebrated was Hans Ruckers, who was admitted a member of the St. Luke’s Guild in 1579 as “Hans Ruyckers, clavisinbal makerre.” His beautiful instruments were bought in France and England, as well as in the Low Countries; and it is thought that Queen Elizabeth owned one. In England they were called virginals. Many of the Ruckers’ instruments are still in existence, owned by collectors and museums. The Museum of the Brussels Conservatory owns an oblong one, dated 1610. This has two keyboards, one above the other, and consists of 4½ octaves, and white naturals. The Museum of the Paris Conservatory has one of 5 octaves, black naturals, and bent side, dated 1590; The Musée du Steen, Antwerp, owns an oblong one dated 1611; and Messrs. Chappell and Co., of London, have an undated oblong of 4 octaves. This stands on an arcade with six balusters and is decorated with fine paintings. A similar instrument on Plate XXIIIa, by this maker, is in the Steinert collection at Yale University, U.S.A. It is a double spinet of four octaves. The painting on the lid represents the favourite Apollo and Marsyas contest. Above, and below the movable spinet are painted landscapes with children dancing. The little spinet on the left, which sets into the spinet proper, is tuned one octave higher than the one on the right. In performing upon both instruments at once, the smaller instrument is removed and set upon a table. On the jack rails of both spinets may be read: “Johannes Ruqvers me fecit.”

Martinus Vander Biest entered the St. Luke’s Guild of Antwerp in 1558 as one of the ten clavecin-makers. An oblong clavecin, made by him in Antwerp is in the Museum at Nuremberg, and is signed and dated Martinus Vander Biest, 1580.

Hans Ruckers the younger, known as Jean, because he used the initials J. R. in his rose, was also a master in the St. Luke’s Guild of Antwerp. He made beautiful instruments from 1617 to 1642. These were of both shapes, bent side and oblong, were furnished with one or two keyboards and were sometimes decorated with paintings in Vernis Martin. A beautiful example with two keyboards, 4¾ octaves, black naturals, owned by the Baroness James de Rothschild. The case and top are black and gold lacquer in the Chinese style, and the painting inside the top is said to be by Lancret. It is dated 1630 and inscribed “Joannes Ruckers me fecit, Antverpiae.” Another by the same maker, also in a black and gold case, is owned by the South Kensington Museum. This is bent side, has one keyboard and is dated 1639. The Museum of the Paris Conservatory also owns a bent side clavecin, made by Jean Ruckers, of two keyboards and 5 octaves. This is painted outside by Teniers and Brouwer and inside by Breughel and Paul Bril. To him has also been attributed a spinet in the Cluny Museum with bent side, one keyboard, 4½ octaves and blackwood case incrusted with ivory.

In 1638, the private secretary of Charles I, Sir F. Windebank, had a long correspondence with a painter named Balthazar Gerbier, then in Brussels, regarding the purchase of a virginal in Antwerp for the King of England. Gerbier described one made by Hans Ruckers for the Infanta. It had a double keyboard and four stops and was beautifully painted. The picture inside the cover was Cupid and Psyche by Rubens. This instrument was bought for £30, but was unsatisfactory on account of insufficient compass. Gerbier was asked to exchange it, but he wrote back that the maker had not another on sale.

Andries Ruckers, another son of the elder Hans, was born in 1579. In 1619, the Guild of St. Luke ordered a clavecin from him. The Museum of the Brussels Conservatory owns one dated 1613, with one keyboard and four octaves. The Musée Archéologique of Bruges owns a bent side one, dated 1624, of 5 octaves and 3 stops, and the Musée du Steen, Antwerp has a bent side one, undated, with 3 stops and two keyboards, the lower one 4 octaves and the upper 3¾ octaves. In the South Kensington Museum there is another by Andries Ruckers, said to have been Handel’s. This is dated 1651, and inscribed Sic transit Gloria Mundi and Acta Virum Probant. On the belly of the instrument, of the bent side shape, a concert of monkeys is represented. One monkey is conducting.

Andries Ruckers the younger, born in 1617, married a daughter of Dirck de Vries, also a clavecin-maker. The Château de Perceau, near Cosné, owned a bent side clavecin by Andries the younger, dated 1655. Its case was painted in blue camaïeu in the rococo style. This passed to a private collector.

Christofel Ruckers was the last important member of this family of clavecin-makers.

A beautifully decorated clavecin occurs in the picture of The Young Scholar and His Sister, by Cocx (Coques) in the Cassel Gallery. The room is decorated with hangings of blue leather, ornamented with gold, above which hang pictures in ebony frames. The young man is seated at a table beneath the window and his sister is at the clavecin opposite. The latter is exquisitely painted, the top showing the story of Apollo and Marsyas.

In the latter part of the sixteenth and throughout the seventeenth centuries, the bass viol was much played in England, France and the Low Countries and was called the viol da gamba. This instrument frequently appears in the works of the Dutch masters, in which not unfrequently ladies are represented playing it, as, for example, in Jan Verkolje’s (1650–93) Musical Party in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam, where the lady is seated upon a low-backed leather chair with her foot upon a foot-warmer. The instrument is turned from the spectator.

The lute, which so frequently appears in early pictures, was superseded about 1600 by the theorbo, or double-necked lute with two sets of strings and two sets of tuning pegs. The theorbo is represented in Terborch’s Lute-Player in The Cassel Gallery; a lute also appears in Van Mieris’s The Painter and his Wife in the Hague Gallery, a charming domestic picture, in which the painter is teasing a puppy and its mother. The lute lies carelessly on the table.

Brassware contributed very greatly to the brightness and cheerfulness of an apartment during the Renaissance period as well as during the centuries before and after. The chandelier with its graceful curves appears in many a picture; and the best art of the day was devoted to the hearth-furnishings. Dogs and andirons assumed large proportions and considerable decorative importance. An interesting Flemish dog of the sixteenth century is represented in Fig. 28. It is similar to those metal andirons on the hearth in Plate XXIV. Besides human and animal figures, this kind of dinanderie assumed many other forms. Other kinds of dinanderie, consisting of candlesticks of human figures in contemporary costumes are shown in Fig. 29 and Fig. 30.