Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-01-25

sabots is startling to nervously in
lclined individual. The streets are mar
row and tortuous, and here in some of
these streets, so narrow that it is almost
impossible for two carriages to pass each
other, you find the residences of some
of the most influential citizens-it may
be q Duke or Prince with a lineage
running way back beyond the crusades.
The houses are old and quaint, gabled
4 and tiled roofs, many of them as they
stood in the 18th and 14th centuries,
with old fashioned brass knockers in
stead of the modern door bell. They
adopt very few new customs in Ant
werp.
An instance that reminded me forci-
bly, that l was native of a parvenue
land. and that I was among the an
clients, occurred to me one day as
made social call with friend on one
of the citizens. The drawing-room in
which we were ushered, was octagonal
in shape, with deep windows. While
Il slipping cognac and coffee, my attention
\ was called to the halls of the room,
H which were painted handson. ely, repre-
Il senting different scenes of an o1d-time
Belgian stag hunt, in all seven fine rep
resentations of the chase, from "the
meet" down to the death of the stag
fAnd the final picnicing scene in forest
TX lade of the merrie hunters These
" alIs were painted 275 years ago, and
| all this time the house remained in pos
ses sion of the family. One felt as if he
| wa liked in the shadows of the past in
| these old habitations.
To the stranger the first place in Ant
werp to visit is the Cathedral. and richly
1oes it pay one to visit it. This church
was built in the 14th century, and it
anks in interest with the celebrated
G. hurches of the old world. 1t stands
th ere grim, brown and dingy, with its
loi ety steeple, except that of st. Peters
an, Cologne Cathedral, the highest in
Eu rope. the glory and pride of the Ant
wer plans. In its lofty steeple there is a
most wonderful chime, which every
| quar-, ter of an hour breaks the stiffness
| with its musical sounds; not the chimes
of bel Is as we ordinarily hear, but more
| that of an immense music-box with
organ accompaniment. The interior of
the church, like all old Cathedrals, is
vast, s.,mbre, and uncomfortable, and
as you walk over it's marble floor, you
look down and find that you are walk
ing over the burial places of many, as
their tablets tell you. who have played
their play on life's stage and have rested
in the old Cathedral two an d three hum
dred years. As we look down at the
4 worn epitaphs in crooked old Roman
letters, we think of "Thanatopsis'' and
4 the lines:
"All that tread the globe are but handful
Il To the tribes that siumberin its BOSOM"
4 The crowning glory, however, of this
4 Cathedral are it's paintings, for on its
grim old walls are to be found paintings
that mouey cannot buy, for here are the
mas ter. pieces of the justly celebrated
Peter Paul Rubens, Antwerps great
artist, that of the elevation of the
Cross'' and the descent from the
Gross" Words of mine can give no
adequate conception of these wonderful
paintings, with that matchless group
| ing and coloring that Rubens knew how
to command as no other artist ever did.
T,h ese two paintings, with wonderful
ono of Vandyke's, the "Ecstatic vision
of st. Sebastian" are kept covered all
| for a few hours they are uncovered for
the public, though the open sesame of a
franc piece can always. when there is
| no church service, obtain view of these
art trea sures. Over the great altar is
another one of Ruben S famous paint
ines. 1.-THE Assumption of the Virgin"
beautiful in the fullest sense of the
word. This Cathedral contains another
gem of art which is priceless. 1t is the
head of Christ painted on marble by
Leonardo de Vinci. To me, it is one of
the most fascinating pictures I ever be-
held. Photographs and engEavings
give no idea of the sweetness of express
sion of that divine face as there repre-
sented. -
| Many other treasures in the shape of
picture, statue and carving, does this
grand old church contain, and as one
walks through its shadowy aisles with
the dim religious light falling down
from it's stained windows, with here
and there the bowed form of a worship
per before some sanity shrine, he can
not help feeling that the ground he
treads upon is holy.
There are other beautiful churches in
4 Antwerp, such as the Jesuit church and
st. Jaques. but the glory of them all Is
the Cathedral.
/ A precious heritage to the Antwerp
ians are the records of these old Flem
ish masters In painting, and especially
do they cheiish the memory of Antoine
| Vandyke and Peter Paul Rubens. their
| two greatest. They not only presery e
with the most jealous care the works of
their brushes, but old chairs and other
relics are sacred1y preserved in their
museums. There are statues erected to
them, streets and squares named after
them, and the House of Rubens is pre-
served and now contaius fine museum
of paintings. The style of the two
great painters are totally different. Ru-
bens excelled in his groupings and col
oring, and his figures are all of the he
roic style. 'Tis said his model for all
his virgins was his wife, who must
have been quite healthy specimen of a
woman. Vandyke excels in the won
derfully realistic character of his indi.
vidual figures. Some of his saints and
| the "Dead Christ on the knees of the
Virgin" have never been excelled.
There is a bewitching wealth of fine
pictures in the various museums and
galleries, all free to the public, which
represents the famous Flemish school of
painting, but we will call truce to the
Flemish school and high art and touch
on the practical and every day life.
The great interests of Antwerp are
its commercial, and it has large ship
ping interest. Ships flying the flags of
| ~. \ + nd