Fortunately, however, the necessities of our particular brand of present day civilization are gradually making such ineptitudes impossible. The architect has been compelled to face the problem of the modern skyscraper, which is the most signal instance to be found of logical growth rooted in necessity. At first he floundered in a vain effort to apply to a structure, distinguished by its vertical direction, the principles he had learned in the class room of ancient horizontal designs. Here and there, however, throughout the country are artists who have accepted the logic of circumstances, in consequence of which the skyscrapers, while fulfilling every demand of business necessity, are becoming monumentally artistic. These represent, in fact, the most important contribution that has been made to the socalled fine arts for three hundred years.

As a final word for this brief preface, the question may rise in the student's mind: "Will America ever reach to such a pitch of artistic greatness as, say, Italy of the Renaissance?" In our belief in the future we may return a ringing “yes;" but it will be a greatness of another kind. Quite possibly painting may never again reach so high a level of splendor; but painting is only one of the arts and only a symptom and symbol of the art of living. The genius of Italy was aristocratic, ours is democratic, striving to fuller and more perfect development of each for all. Which of the arts will soonest and most completely realize this new ideal is yet undetermined. May one hazard a guess that it will be the art of the novelist, the poet or the dramatist? At any rate it will be the one which most intimately reflects the needs and the aspirations of the new democracy.

Charles F... Caffen

THE LOW COUNTRIES

ART IN THE LOW COUNTRIES.

That part of Europe today occupied by the kingdoms of Belgium and Holland was long known as the Nederlands, or the lowlands. The northern portion is largely composed of the Rhine delta and was for ages a marshy tract. By shutting out the sea and preventing inundations from the rivers, the region has been made habitable. The southern partnow Belgium-was called Flanders in mediaeval times.

When the Roman conquerors invaded this country they found Celtic tribes, called collectively the Belgae, dwelling in the southern portion; north and east lived German tribes, the Frisians prominent among them. This early racial difference was destined to deeply influence the development of the provinces. The Flemish grew somewhat like the French; the Hollanders, like the English.

Roman occupation did something for the future kingdoms. The Romans built the first dikes to shut out the sea; they made roads surviving even yet; they constructed bridges, improved the condition of agriculture and promoted trade. When they finally withdrew, the Germanic peoples had ceased to be nomadic.

As was generally true in western Europe, the Franks gradually gained supremacy over the different tribes of this region, merging Frisians and Saxons into their own nation. Charlemagne incorporated the low countries into his empire, which fell to pieces upon his death. For a considerable period following, the history of the provinces was bound up in the history of the kingdom of Lothair.

During Mediaeval times there was little reason for racial differences to manifest themselves. Flanders became the center of extensive industrial activity and trade throve mightily.

The whole region fell to the share of Charles V. as part of his hereditary possessions and profited greatly by trade

with the New World and the Indies. Each of the seventeen provinces had its own charter while a loose confederacy was held through the States-General, composed of delegates from each of the seventeen divisions. The meetings were held irregularly and industrial concerns received much more attention than those of purely governmental interest.

When Protestantism began to spread through Europe it gained a firm foothold in the northern provinces while those of the south remained but slightly affected. Charles V. used various means during the latter years of his reign to crush out the dissenting spirit, yet in spite of them the new faith gained ground. In 1555 he abdicated in favor of his son, Philip II. The son lacked his father's statesman-like qualities but was possessed of a fanatical desire to wipe out heresy. Accordingly he remained four years in these provinces and used many cruel and relentless measures for detecting nonconformists. He then turned the regency over to his half-sister, Margaret of Parma. Persecutions were increased and the land sorely oppressed by officers of the realm and courts for the conviction of Protestants. Finally the charters of the provinces were required. Some refused to give them up. At this juncture the pent up fury of the people asserted itself. They declared this action of the king illegal and unjust and relieved their feelings by making raids upon the churches and monasteries. It must always remain a matter for sincere regret that countless art treasures and valuable libraries were ruthlessly destroyed when they robbed the churches of every image and painting and monasteries of whatever pertained to the Catholic faith. To avenge this action and quell the disturbance, Philip sent the Duke of Alva with 20,000 troops thither. There is no example in modern history of more brutal, cold-blooded tyranny than that exercised by Alva in the Netherlands. It was his boast that in six years he caused the death of over 18,000 people, aside from those who fell in battle.

Antwerp was one of the most beautiful cities of Europe. Motley has described its appearance during flourishing mediaeval years.

"No city except Paris surpassed it in population or in commercial splendor. The city itself was the most beautiful

in Europe. Placed upon a plain along the bank of the Scheldt, shaped like a bent bow with the river for its string, it enclosed within its walls some of the most splendid edifices in Christendom. The world-renowned Church of Nôtre Dame, the stately Exchange, where 5,000 merchants daily congregated-prototype of all similar establishments throughout the world-the capacious mole and port-were all establishments which it would have been difficult to rival in any other part of the globe."

Yet this city was one that suffered so fearfully by Alva's scourge that travellers for years commented upon its forsaken appearance.

In 1579 the seventeen provinces united for common defense. William of Orange, learning directly that Philip II. had made an alliance with Henry II. of France for the purpose of crushing out Protestantism, particularly in the Netherlands, became the leader of the Netherlanders in their opposition. For years war waged. At length the ten southern provinces declared for the king. They had joined with the northern provinces because they felt the actions of the king to be illegal, rather than for religious reasons. They were still, as they had always been, predominantly Catholic.

From this separation the life of the two districts developed along different lines. The seven northern provinces were left to fight out their appeal for religious freedom. Not until 1648 was their sovereignty acknowledged. They were the first to establish a firm nation upon the cornerstones of freedom of worship, freedom of speech and sovereignty of the people.

The art of the two countries was profoundly affected by political conditions. Believing in simplicity of worship and churches unadorned, the Dutch never produced paintings setting forth on canvas or wall the stories of sacred lore and legend. Beginning with portrait painting, they soon began to depict the life and occupations of the people-the so-called genre pictures; landscape also appealed to them. The Flemish artas the art of Belgium is always called-was older; it followed somewhat the course of art in Italy and in France, although it too developed locally. For these reasons it is necessary to Consider the two schools of art separately.

FLEMISH ART.

The people of Flanders were always fond of gay dress, luxury, festivals, fête days, and sacred legends. Their love of the artistic was shown in tapestries, illuminations and stained glass before picture painting was particularly developed. Miniature painting revealed this love of luxurious effects, for borders were frequently mysteries of foliage, flowers, insects, birds and jewels.

The Van Eycks were the first important Flemish painters. The whole family seems to have been gifted; the father did some creditable work, and the sister Margaret gave her whole life to her art. The two brothers, Hubert and Jan, were the most famous. They discovered a method of mixing oils which allowed them to obtain unusual results in colors. Heretofore it had been the custom of painters to mix their colors with oils and with the whites of eggs or glue; then to varnish the whole, which unfortunately grew dull under the heavy varnish, while the glue or whites of eggs frequently caused the paint to crack in drying. The Van Eycks found that linseed oil and the oil of nuts dried quickly. In his "Cloister and the Hearth," Charles Reade has given us the secret of the Van Eycks as Margaret is supposed to have given it to another. Whatever it may have been, it enabled the artist to produce and preserve a brilliancy of color previously unknown. Truthfulness, detail and superb finish characterized the paintings of the Van Eycks. An altar-piece at Ghent, The Adoration of the Lamb, is their most noted painting.

Van der Weyden and Memling both followed the Van Eycks, but the great founder of modern Flemish art was Peter Paul Rubens-1577-1640-born in western Germany, where his parents were temporarily living. To be sure, Rubens inherited much from his predecessors but he made all they had learned his own and employed it in new and individual ways.

Born in 1577, just one year after Antwerp had been almost destroyed by the Spaniards, he heard of many stirring events that were constantly occurring during his boyhood. When he was seven William of Orange was assassinated; when eleven, the Spanish Armada sailed to invade England.