Old Houses in HollandJones, Sydney R. (Sydney Robert)
History
Old Houses in Holland
Jones, Sydney R. (Sydney Robert)
Architecture, Domestic -- Netherlands
In the glazed tiles, inseparably associated with Delft and other
places in Holland, the Dutch had admirable material for interior
decoration. Some tiles were pure white; others had conventional floral
forms painted upon them. Many, again, were decorated with devices
derived from scriptural, nautical, rural, historical, and classical
sources. Units such as these, beautiful in themselves, were capable
of giving lively and gay effects when arranged together. How
satisfactorily they were used will have been already observed
in the fireplaces previously described.
But, apart from giving value to fireplaces, they were employed
in other ways. Notable rooms are to be seen whose good appearance
depends primarily upon the skilful manipulation of tiles. Two such are
illustrated, one in colour (opposite). They are from Hindeloopen, and
are now in the Frisian Museum at Leeuwarden. The original woodwork of
the coloured drawing belongs to the seventeenth century. The back of
the fireplace, as well as the walls surrounding it, is faced entirely
with tiles from floor to ceiling. Those towards the floor have blue and
white patterns upon them; above, and in the window recess, they are
white but for the narrow blue borders round the angles. These tiles
were made at Makkum. Upon the floor are glazed quarries of red and
black, laid in alternate colours. The room of the other illustration
(page 137) dates from the eighteenth century. It has similar tiles
on the walls and quarries on the floor. Floors were also laid with
other coloured quarries, blue and green and yellow; while in larger
houses stone and marble were employed with pleasing results.
Panelling was by no means infrequently applied to interior walls. It
was often marked by elaboration rather than simplicity, although
there are not wanting examples of rooms wainscoted with plain framed
woodwork divided into panels by stiles and rails. Of ornamental panels
there are certain definite kinds. Characteristic are those adorned
with linen-fold patterns. Another design that was favoured is shown
in the illustration taken from Zwolle (page 138), where carved vine
ornaments appear between two curved and moulded scrolls set back to
back. This particular example is attributed to the beginning of the
sixteenth century. At a later date round-headed arches and pilasters
were introduced, such as those exemplified from Leiden on this page,
as well as carved friezes and moulded cornices. It is remarkable
to note the great similarity between the development of panelling
in Holland and in England. The earlier patterns employed in both
countries are practically identical, while Dutch seventeenth-century
woodwork bears great resemblance to that of our Jacobean period.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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