The influence of the Flemish and French was so great in Spain at this time, that Juan de Arphe severely reprimands his fellow-workers, who never cease copying the “_papelas y estampas flamencas y francesas_.” There was not a prosperous city in the Netherlands whose public and private buildings were not embellished with the products of the great artists in wood-carving. The great masters of Bruges were Guyot de Beaugrant, L. Glosencamp, Roger de Smet and André Rasch, sculptors and carpenters who executed the chimneypiece in the _Palais du Franc_ in Bruges after the designs of Lancelot Blondeel. One of the most characteristic specimens of Flemish carpentry-work of the fifteenth century is the oak pew richly carved in the Gothic style (1474), belonging to the Van der Gruuthuuse family in Notre Dame of Bruges that is connected by a passage with the Gruuthuuse Mansion, built in (1465–70). It is important to keep constantly in mind the fact that at this period architects, sculptors, painters and goldsmiths did not confine themselves to one particular field of labour. Sculptors worked both in wood and stone in both civil and religious buildings, and the best talent was employed equally on _retables_, choir-stalls, pulpits, bishops’ thrones, _armoires_, _dressoirs_, chests and seats. The Duke’s accounts show many entries of payments for elaborate furniture. Two examples will suffice: “June 20, 1399: From the Duke of Burgundy to Sandom, _huchier_, living in Arras, for a _dressoir_, with lock and keys, which was placed in the chamber of our very dear and much-loved son Anthoyne, xxxii _sols pariis_”; and again, “To Pierre Turquet, _huchier_, living in the said town of Arras, for a bench, a table, a pair of trestles, and for a _dressoir_ with lock and key for our chamber in our abode in the said place, for goods supplied by him four _livres pariis_.” The fifteenth century has been called the “Golden Age of Tapestry.” Not only were the halls and chambers of rich lords hung with “noble auncyent stories,” woven in silk and wool of the most gorgeous hues and enlivened with shining threads of gold, but the store-rooms were filled with sets that were brought forth to decorate the outsides as well as the interiors of houses on the occasion of some great festival, marriage, tournament, or return of a conqueror from the wars. Wealthy princes often took valuable sets to war to decorate their tents. Charles the Bold, for example, had with him some of his richest treasures, which became the trophies of his Swiss conquerors and are now in Berne. Owing to her wars, the industries of France had declined, and among them her tapestry. Flanders now, particularly under the patronage of the rich and powerful Dukes of Burgundy, enjoyed the greatest prosperity. Flanders became the centre of the manufacture of tapestry; and Arras, Brussels and Bruges produced works that have never been surpassed.