Just as the seventeenth century was about to dawn, the Decadence that had affected Italy for nearly half a century began to make itself felt in the Low Countries. Those responsible for it were, Michael Angelo and Borromeo, who abandoned the graceful forms of the Renaissance for disproportionate and exuberant decoration. The Flemish architects, artists, and decorative designers willingly subjected themselves to the Italian influence again as they had done a century before. Rubens undoubtedly had the greatest influence on the art taste of Europe during the first three-quarters of the seventeenth century. Going to Italy in 1600, he spent, with short breaks, seven years there. He found that the Italians had already broken away from the sober lines of the antique, and with an unrestrained curve were already giving promise of the exaggerations indulged in later by Borromini, who, in line and form, broke with all the old traditions. Rubens was affected by the new vogue; and, on his return, the great Fleming introduced into his own country the style of architecture and ornamentation still known as the _style Rubens_. Rubens was too well inspired with the genius of the sublime Michael Angelo not to know where to use restraint, but in the hands of his followers and imitators this style soon degenerated. From breadth and amplitude, it fell into weakness of form and contour, and great heaviness in the ornamentation. Albert and Isabella kept a splendid Archducal court at Brussels, and there every form of art was sure of encouragement and support. The palace was an imposing mass, picturesquely situated in the highest part of the city. A French visitor in 1612 dwells on the magnificence of the various apartments filled with splendid works of art, and thronged with courtiers and attendants, the richness of the equipages and stables, and the beauty of the park and gardens. When Rubens visited Brussels at the Imperial request, he immediately found favour. When Rubens took up his abode in Antwerp, he bought a house, and altered and enlarged it from time to time to suit his tastes or needs. He embellished it in every possible way with his collections of pictures, busts and archaeological objects. In 1617, he had the banisters of the chief staircase carved by Jan van Mildert. He had very decided ideas on architecture, and supplied the workmen with his own plans. He was originally attracted to the house because it was built somewhat on the model of the Italian houses he had so greatly admired. In 1622, he published a book on the Palaces of Genoa, and from the preface we learn that he was greatly delighted to see the old style known as “barbarous” or “Gothic” go out of style and disappear from Flanders, “giving place, to the great honour of the country, to symmetrical buildings designed by men of better taste, and conforming to the rules of the Greek or Roman antique.” [Illustration: PLATE XXIII.—_Lady at Spinet, by J. M. Molenaer._