Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1915-10-15
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4 MARTN CONWAY

- OF romance but OF burgher1sf
!: !
AH solid sort, the very antipodes Of
the romance Of the sunny East
81 Dutch romance is the child Of in
~ q dustry. enterprise. dogged courage
t/ fogs and waterways and its great
days fell within the limits Of the
seventeenth century. Then ships
OF Holland sailed all the seven seas and brought
home wealth and tales of adventure. Then its
sailors hammered at the arctic ice-pack and
pushed their trade among tropical spice islands
Then 1t was that De Ruyter sailed up the Thames
With broom at his masthead; then, too, that
Rembrandt painted and vondel rhymed. That
also Tor Holland was great building age, when
prosperity caused cities to grow canals to be
aug. ports to be built. and the mutiplex activity
OF Dutchmen to manifest itself in all kinds OF
makings and shapings upon the surface Of their
amphibious land-half earth. half water. Thus
n is the Holland of Rembrandt's day and there
about that remains most interesting to the trav-
eaer and It is the buildings then erected that are
most worthy of study and presentation within
her towns.
Amsterdam, when Rembrandt went to settle
mere about 1881. passing architecturally
through a period Of transition The small core
OF the city. where everything was on a small
scale. still retained many remnants of the me-
0ieval age. The canals in It were narrow, the
accommodation for ships was exiguous. grow
mg population and expanding trade were finding
themselves horribly cramped.
Amsterdam grew like an onion. by layers sur.
rounding layers about q center. From time to
time new rings Of canals were added, with radial
connections. and then more rings outside them
OF course fortified walls were erected round the
whole at different dates. but they lasted for
long and had to be replaced by new circuits as
the city expanded. The moat of each new circuit
became canal within the next Those who were
responsible for the important changes made at
the beginning of the seventeenth century had the
good sense not to destroy every memorial of
medieval days. In particular they spared some
OF the old fortifcation towers applying them to
new purpose and refitting them accordingly. Thus
the tower called Montelbaanstoren which still
stands by the old Schans one of the largest
oasins OF the earlier canal system. was q part of
the medieval Notifications. They turned it into
. picturesque bell tower by the addition of a
superstructure set up in the year 1906. Though
this was done before Rembrandts day. he omitted
the steeple in an admirable drawing he made of
II. thus giving one among countless instances
that might be cited. Of his attachment rather to
the past than to the coming taste Of the people
OF his day. The Only other high tower at Am
sterdam drawn by vim was the westertoren or
tower of the Westerkerk on the Prinsengracht
which unfortunately. we cannot produce in this
place. That tower was a favorite with the folk
Of Amsterdam. and have more than onee found
1t referred to. in narratives of Dutch exploration
- measure Of height, as. for instance when q
glacier cliff is said to have stood out of the sea
about AZ high as the Westertoren It is a storied
tower, composed Of four retreating rectangular
stages each with columns at the angles not
unlike some of Wren's towers in the city of Lon
don.
The Westertoren however. carries us down
rather too late. when Palladia. ideas were af.
fecting Dutch architects. This was a feature of
tho change OF taste. which made the art of Rem
brandt old fashioned and terminated his pros
perity. The Mint tower Of 1910, and the others
shown in our illustrations. are examples Of Am
sterdam steeple architecture OF Rembrandt's own
generatfon II they must be called fantastic they
are certainly picturesque and admirably suited
70 enliven canal vista or to poke up out of a
foreground Of crow-stepped gables
These are the typically Dutch towers, these
buildings Of the great days of Dutch romance.
Earlier towers we can find in Holland but they
are Gothic, and reecho the style elaborated in
France. France also set the key Of architectural
style In the eighteenth century. In the seven
teenth century Holland stood on her own feet
and other folk initiated the work of her artists
The Dutch style affected England; 1t was imi.
lated in the remarkable buildings erected in Den.
mark for Christian Nv. II penetrated to the ends
of the earth. It went with Dutch adventurers to
New York. to Ceylon. to the Cape of Good Hope.
where examples Of 1t may still be hunted out by
kIo0t searching.
- illustrations include q few of the earlier
lowers Of Holland about which a word or two
must be said. Here. for Instance are the Cathe-
hal and one Of the medieval gates of Maastricbt.
noither Of them in any sense characteristically
Dutch. for the Holland that the world admires
vas created in the fire Of the Reformation wars.
ne cathedral church of ST. Servatus at Mas
RIGHT is Of early Christian foundation and IL is
ven claimed that portions Of the existing walls
Afe back to the sixth century The building as
- see IT. however. is a great romanesque
hurch Of Rhenish style. with restored eleventh
entury towers at the angles of its apse and
afer Gothic bell tower adjacent to a side aisle
Jtrecht and Delft have bell towers of like kind
he upper story being manysided and many.
abled. Another such tower is in Paradise itself
We are to believe Hubert Van Eycks picture of
hat delectable land the famous altarpiece still
0hent unless the Germans have carried II of
Medieval Maastricht was not~a large place.
he Cathedral was in the center of II: NOT more
han nve hundred yards away are the remains of
" city walls Of 1890 The exigencies of war
axe the military architecture of q given date
verywhere much the same. Thus the tower.
nnked south gate Of Maastricht is not different
design nom many another that can be foupd
the old cities Of Europe. But though II had