A Wanderer in Holland
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY WaM fn^JxAhSk^ lO/o Date Due 1 8 IM.RflH Q f 958 J F JUN3 1!)58K u ^njTM 1958H TJ AJiG ^ist asi 1IKR5= e^w? -U_-/ TrTTTTr* '' sL^l I^pyu2ii 3^ Cornell University Library r* 1 «^ . DJ 39.L93 1910 Wanderer In Holland / 3 1924 028 343 998 A WANDERER IN HOLLAND A WANDERER IN HOLLAND BV E. V. LUCAS WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY HERBERT MARSHALL AND THIRTY-FOUK ILLUSTRATIONS AFTER OLD DUTCH MASTEKS ELEVEHIH EDITION NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY igio Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028343998 PREFACE T T would be useless to pretend that this book is authoritatively informing. It is a series of personal impressions of the Dutch country and the Dutch people, gathered during three visits, together with an accretion of matter, more or less pertinent, drawn from many sources, old and new, to which I hope I have given unity. For trustworthy information upon the more serious side of Dutch life and character I would recommend Mr. Meldrum's Holland and tlxe Hollanders. My thanks are due to my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Luden, for saving me from many errors by reading this work in MS. E. V. L. CONTENTS PAQE Preface ... xi CHAPTER I Rotterdam , . i CHAPTER II The Dutch in . English Literature , , , . 19 CHAPTER III Dordrecht and Utrecht .-..,... 30 CHAPTER IV Delft 48 CHAPTER V Ths Hague 63 CHAPTER VI SCHEVENINOEN AND KaTWYK . •••,.. 85 CHAPTER VII Leyden » , . , 94 CHAPTER VIII Leyden's Painters, a Fanatic and a Hero . i , . 107 CHAPTER IX Haarlem > • i 1 . < 128 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER X PAQE Amsterdam 153 CHAPTER XI Amsterdam's Pictures . 173 CHAPTER XII Around Amsterdam: South and youTH-EAST . , . 184 CHAPTER XIII Around Amsterdam : North ...,.., 195 CHAPTER XIV Alkmaar and Hoorn, The Helder and Enkhuisen . , 206 CHAPTER XV Friesland : Stavoren to Leeuwarden 226 CHAPTER XVI {contrived) : Friesland Leeuwarden and Neighbourhood , 235 CHAPTER XVII Groninqen to Zutphen 250 CHAPTER XVIII Arnheim to Bergen-op-Zoom , ...41 261 CHAPTER XIX MiDDKLBURG , , , . ....,, 285 CHAPTER XX Flushing ....... , , . 294 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR Sunrise on the Maas .... Frontispiece Rotterdam .,..,.. To face page 6 GOUDA ........ i8 The Great Church, Doet 36 Utrecht ...... 44 On the Beach, Scheveningen . 92 Leyden 98 The Turf Market, Haarlem , 128 St. Nicolas Church, Amsterdam 154 Canal in the Jews' Quarter, Amsterdam 162 volendam ....... 202 Cheese Market, Alkmaar. 206 The Harbour Tower, Hoorn . 214 Market Place, Weigh-House, Hoorn 220 The Dromedaris Tower, Enkhuisen 226 Harlingen 242 Kampen 256 Arnheim 264 The Market Place, Nymwegen 276 MiDDELBURO .... s86 v« LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN MONOTONE Girl's Head. Jan Vermeer of Delft (Mauritshuis) To fact page 2 The Store Cupboard. Peter de Hooch (Ryks). 12 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI Portrait of a Youth. Jan van Scorel (Boyman Museum, Rotterdam) The Sick Woman. Jan Steen (Ryks) 22 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI The Anxious Family, Josef Israels . 26 View of Dort. Albert Cuyp (Ryks) . 30 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI The Never-Ending Prayer. Nicholas Maes (Ryks] 34 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI A Lady. Paulus Moreelse (Ryks) 40 Pilgrims to Jerusalem. Jan van Scorel (Kunstliefde Museum, Utrecht) 46 View of Delft. Jan Vermeer (Mauritshuis) 58 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI The School of Anatomy. Rembrandt (Mauritshuis' 66 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI A Young Woman. Rembrandt (Mauritshuis) 68 The Steen Family. Jan Steen (Mauritshuis) . 74 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI The Menagerie. Jan Steen (Mauritshuis) 80 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI Portrait of G. Bicker, Landrichter of Muiden. Van der Heist (Ryks) 86 From a Photograph by Franz HanfstaengI viii , LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IX The Syndics. Rembrandt (Ryks) . To face page 104 From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl The OvsTi.r Feast. Jan Steen (Mauritshuis) . From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl The Young Housekeeper. Gerard Dou (Mauritshuis) From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl Breakfast. Gabriel Metsu (Ryks) . • From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl The Groote Kerk. Johannes Bosbnom (Boymans Museum, Rotterdam) The Painter and his Wife (?). Frans Hals (Ryks) From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl Guoup of Arquebusiers. Frans Hals (Haarlem) From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl The Cat's Dancing Lesson. Jan Steen (Ryks) . From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl " ". The Night Watch Rembrandt (Ryks) , . From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl The Reader. Jan Vermeer (Ryks) .... From a Photograph by Franz Hanl^tncngl Milking Time. Anton Mauve Paternal Advice. Gerard Terburg (Ryks) . From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl The Spinner. Nicholas Maes (Ryks) . , , From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl Clara Alewijn. Dirck Santvoort (Ryks) . Family Scene. Jan Steen (Ryks) . , , -. From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl The Little Princess. Paulus Moreelse (Ryks) . From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl The Shepherd and his Flock. Anton Mauve . Helene van der Schalke. Gerard Terburg (Ryks) From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl Elizabeth Bas. Rembrandt (Ryks) . * From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl » 6> illuftrate ^'^ ^1^; Map liWanderer mHOLrAND Reference to the Provinces . C . Z^eU-cnS-^ D. Vtre6ht^ F . J\Cl^raJ}ant^ K. ^renthe.^ G. linibvcr^^ L. (SroruLngero -^ H . Overijft-eL -^ M. friejlcow 'Kailtoay.? thus —-—— [fnkhidxen Tfov SEA y^ormikerSiv -4 ^x^^?/ .^^^^^ '<Hiik - -•Jifiiiri'en.^ • . ^ b/ >l^ H? dthtveninaen.^. / 'u3a J/hokafy^olUcS/ ^Jtnp%- MaasR^ W\4oT7EJ&W, ^Gvri (JSc i^&r Pyv >^. Schc C/ . '5^r?8a. '&Bergen.of>2oonu ,y'y.\', g'^^'^'^^^ite;. l..#fl§i 12"= — A WANDERER IN HOLLAND CHAPTER I ROTTERDAM To Rotterdam by water —^To Rotterdam by rail — Holland's monotony of scenery—Holland in England— Rotterdam's few merits—The life of the river—The Rhine —Walt Whitman—Crowded canals—Barge life—The Dutch high-ways—A perfect holidaj'—The canal's in- fluence on the national character—The florin and the franc—Lady Mary Wortley Montagu—The old and the poor— Holland's health Funeral customs—Erasmus of Rotterdam—Latinised names—Peter de Hooch—True aristocracy—The Boymans treasures— Modern Dutch art—Matthew Maris—The Rotterdam Zoo—The herons The stork's mission —The ourang-outang—An eighteenth-century miser—A successful merchant—The Queen-Mother—Tom Hood in Rotterdam—Gouda. IT was once possible to sail all the way to Rotterdam by either of the two lines of steamships from England —the Great Eastern, via Harwich, and the Batavier, direct from London. But that is possible now only by the Batavier, passengers by the better-known Harwich route being landed now and henceforward at the Hook at five A.M. I am soiTy for this, because after a rough pass- age it was very pleasant to glide in the early morning steadily up the Maas and gradually acquire a sense of Dutch quietude and greyness. No longer, however, can this be done, as the Batavier boats reach Rotterdam at night ; and one therefore misses the river, with the little 2 THE CHARM OF MONOTONY villages on its banks, each with a tiny canal-harbour of its own ; the groups of trees in the early mist ; the gulls and herons ; and the increasing traffic as one drew nearer Schiedam and at last reached that forest of masts which is known as Rotterdam. But now that the only road to Rotterdam by daylight is the road of iron all that is past, and yet there is some com- pensation, for short a.s the journey is one may in its pro- gress ground oneself very thoroughly in the characteristic scenery of Holland. No one who looks steadily out of the windows between the Hook and Rotterdam has much to leani thereafter. Only changing skies and atmospheric effects can provide him with novelty, for most of Holland is like that. He has the formula. Nor is it necessarily new to him if he knows England well, North Holland being merely the Norfolk Broads, the Essex marshlands about Burnham-on-Crouch, extended. Only in its pecu- liarity of light and in its towns has Holland anything that we have not at home. England has even its canal life too, if one cared to in- vestigate it ; the Broads are populous with wherries and barges ; cheese is manufactured in England in a score of districts ; cows range our meadows as they range the meadows of the Dutch. We go to Holland to see the towns, the pictures and the people. We go also because so many of us are so constituted that we never use our eyes until we are on foreign soil. It is as though a Cook's ticket performed an operation for cataract. But because one can learn the character of Dutch scenery so quickly—on a single railway journey—I do not wish to suggest that henceforward it becomes monotonous and trite. One may learn the character of a friend very quickly, and yet wish to be in his company continually. Holland is one of the most delightful countries to move CIRl. s HE.W) TAN VKR.MF.KK OF DELFT /-r.>7// //ir pi< (lire m tlu: Maiir.tihiiis THE RHINE AND THE THAMES 3 about in : everything that happens in it is of interest. I have never quite lost the sense of excitement in crossing a canal in the train and getting a momentary glimpse of its receding straightness, perhaps broken by a brown sail. In a country where, between the towns, so little happens, even the slightest things make a heightened appeal to the ob- server ; while one's eyes are continually kept bright and one's mind stimulated by the ever-present freshness and clearness of the land and its air.