The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-01
BELGIAN TREASURES OF ART PRESERVED
Some Priceless Canvases
 Were Lost at Dixmude
RUNS INTO MILLIONS
Value of Works Which Have Been Saved-Little Flemish Towns Awakened to History After
 Long Years of SIumber

Furnes. Belgium July 15.-(Corre- spondence of the Associated Press.) The little Flemish towns that loafed
 for centuries on the banks of the Yser before being awakened to give their | names to the history of some of the
 most dramatic episodes of the war Nieuport, Dixmude, Ypres-counted It. ;le commercially and only Ypres fig ured much in history. Wars had re- duced the former proud capital of Flanders to a droning town of less
 than 10000 inhabitants. of whom vir-
 tually only the Valenciennes lace
 makers worked. The men were called
 "tournesols,' which may be translated either as "sunflowers" or "shadeseek- ers." they earned the name by shift
 ing their lounging places on the
 Grande Place so as to keep in the
 sun when the weather was cold and
 to keep out of it when it was hot. The
 remaining importance of the place was,
 as that of Dixmude Nieuport and
 Turnes, chiefly its treasures of art.
 Those of Ypres were mostly gathered
 in the Merghelynck museum and have
 been practically all saved, including
 pictures by Snyders, Van Cost and Van Thulden, with rare specimens of wood
 carving, Spanish leather Jewels and
 manuscripts. While the Germans were approaching the line of the Yser Mon sieur Henri Dommartin, state librarian
 al Brussels transferred the museum
 intact to DunlSirk. and from there to
 Hayre. The most precious work of art iI the entire region, "The Alteration
 Of the Wise Men of the East" by Jor-
 daens. valued at 4,000,000 francs, was
 lost at DiNmude 1t had been removed TppF hn hfaff1 1l,ar tl. 1Itt ff tre for safety; the theatre was caved in by shell and the picture destroyed. Other Works Saved
 number of other works of art, i'm cluding rare specimens of Cordovan, relies of the Spanish occupation of Flanders were saved here by Mon sieur Dommartin and Monsieur Eugene de Groot, deputy for Furnes and Dix nude.
 When the French troops went through Loo to meet the Germans along the Yser they saved a valuable picture, Christ Between the Two
 Thieves by Van Bockhorst, pupil of Rubens. Other objects of lesser value were left but afterward saved by Mon
 sieur Dommartin with the aid of the cure of the parish. They were about to leave when the cure cried: "I was going to forget the mass book" The mass book of Loo was one of the most valued relics of Flanders It was print cd by the widow of Bathazar Moretus onin-law of Plantin. in 1701. It con tained many beautiful engravings and was ornamented with precious stones and escutcheons with the arms of Loo. | At the convent of Loo some remark 1 able portraits of the first bishops of Ypres were found in the cellar and put into a place of safety
 l The great panel, Esther at the Feet l of Assueras" was saved at Newport | hH the French while the Germans were l bombarding the town It is torn in | inany places by fragments of shells, | one of which remains imbedded in the 1 frame. picture representing the
 Siege of Newport" in 1000 was also
 lacerated by shells before being res l cued along with valuable portraits of Philippe II, Mary Tudor. Albert and
 Isabella monstrance of great value
 was discovered by Monsieur de Groot
 here walled up in a cellar.
 Pride of Furnes Saved
 | The pride of Furnes was it's famous pieces of Cordovan leather and speci-
 mems of art of the middle ages, when | in Flanders every man condemned was
 required to execute in bronze repro
 duction of his crime in the form of | the part of the body on which he had l committed 1t or the part of the body l with which he committed 1t. Among 1 the relics of that age taken to a place 1 of safety from Furnes were a bronze l head with lips sealed by a ring-the l work of a man condemned for blas- | phemv--and a fist of bronze armed with | a poignard. the work of assassin. At Wulverin eham soldiers passing 1 through and quartered for the night in | the church saved the Christ on the 1 Cross" "Adoration of the Shepherds and the "Martyrdom of Saint James. celebrated statue of Christ, at 1 tributed to the French sculptor Du Quesnoy, was the property of the lit l tie church of Lampernisse, which was 1 destroyed by shell, together with | the A soldiers occupying it. The cure l had saved the relic, however, and it l was found among the objects saved at Wulverin gham.
 | The value of the works of art saved 1 from ruin along the Yser runs high 1 into the millions. The value of what l is known to have been lost is also | formidable.