=Churrigueresque Style.=--By the seventeenth century Spain, denuded of her foreign possessions by Holland and England and impoverished with war and corrupt government, had reached a condition of national exhaustion. In consequence no new buildings of importance were created, and such additions as were made to existing ones were chiefly in the nature of sculptural embellishments, which reflected the prevailing taste for the baroque. This, toward the end of the century, passed into the glaringly ostentatious and vulgarly meretricious Churrigueresque style, called after its principal perpetrator, the sculptor Churriguera. FLEMISH AND HOLLAND RENAISSANCE TYPES At the beginning of the sixteenth century the Netherlands, especially the southern provinces now comprised in Belgium, entered upon a period of enhanced commercial prosperity. Through their textile industries, their overland trade with Italy and the East, and their sea traffic with Cadiz and Lisbon, which tapped the trade routes to India and the New World, they had become the richest country in Europe. They were the favourite dominions of Charles V, who was born in Brussels, and, while he allowed his “dear Netherlander” municipal self-government, taxed them roundly for the privilege. It was inevitable that Netherlandish art should become affected by the Italian influence. It showed itself first in painting: Mabuse, Floris, Van Orley being among those who sought inspiration in Rome, where Raphael’s and Michelangelo’s fame was supreme. One can picture the sensation in Brussels, in 1515 and 1516, while the former’s cartoons for the Sistine Chapel were being executed in tapestry by Flemish weavers. Brussels shared the glory of the achievement and her artists and decorators may well have aspired to emulate the Italian manner. At any rate, it shortly began to appear in the decorative treatment of certain buildings: the superb chimney piece in the Council-Chamber of the =Palais de Justice=, in =Bruges= (1529); the façade of the gild-house of the Fishmongers in =Malines=, known as the =Salm= or =Salmon House= (1534), and the two courts of the Archbishop’s Palace, now the =Palais de Justice=, in =Liège= (1533). These courts, attributed to François Borset, are surrounded by vaulted arcades, in which occur baluster columns, and capitals carved with grotesque masks and fantastic figurines and foliage--features that suggest a Spanish influence.