"In truth, it is the taste for caryatides and grotesque figures surrounded by garlands, and supporting broken pediments that predominate in all his compositions. The result is a certain character of heaviness and bizarrerie that is more conspicuous in the buildings contributed by him than in his furniture, for the material of the latter, less cold than stone, allows more scope to the original fantasy of the artist. The furniture inspired by Sambin's designs does not exhibit the ponderous grace of the armoires and buffets made in Paris; the lines are not traced with the same tasteful harmony; but it must be recognized that no school equals the vigour and the dramatic expression of the Burgundian artists of this period. The figures of the caryatides and chimerical animals that support the various parts of their furniture and conceal the uprights, are animated with a brutal energy that only skilful chisels can create. Moreover, the walnut wood of which they are carved has been clothed with a warm tone that sometimes equals that of Florentine bronzes."

A fine example of the Burgundian school appears on Plate IX. This is an armoire showing fine and bold carving with Renaissance motives. The panels of the lower drawers are carved with grotesque figures, flanked by pilasters bearing caryatides. The drawers above them are furnished with keyholes. The upper section has a large central panel with a terminal figure in the centre, the head of which forms a fine ornament between the broken pediment. On either side are terminal figures. This beautiful armoire resembles in form the "court cupboard" that was so extensively used in England at this period.

Plate IX. - Armoire, Burgundian School.

Many of the great artists of the day went to Italy to study on the spot, but it would seem that the works of Sebastian Serlio were in high repute, and were closely studied in the Low Countries. Guicciardini, who wrote in 1588, tells us that "Peter Coucq of Alost was great in cartoons or designs for tapestry; and has the peculiar praise of first bringing from Italy the canon of architecture, and translated into Flemish the work of Sebastian Serlio of Bologna, to the great advantage of the Netherlands."

Peter Coeck was born in Alost in 1502, and died in Brussels in 1550. He was a devoted follower of Serlio. He translated his works into French and Flemish, and engraved all the plates for this publication himself. These were issued in Antwerp: parts I - III in 1516, part IV in 1539, and part V was published by his widow in 1553.

Coeck was painter to Charles V, and to his sister, Mary of Austria, Queen of Hungary (born in Brussels in 1503), to whom Charles V gave the government of the Low Countries. In her the arts and sciences found as enthusiastic a patron as they had in her aunt Margaret of Austria. Just as the latter had had her favourite painters in van Orley and Jean Mostaert, so she chose Peter Coeck for hers.

Coeck achieved great fame in the remarkable triumphal arches which he designed for the joyous entrance of Philip II into Antwerp. In 1527, he was made master of the Guild of St. Luke. Thierry de Moelenere intrusted him with the decoration of his rich house in Antwerp, in which he displayed his knowledge as architect, painter and sculptor. Some of the caryatides from this house are now preserved in the Steen Museum. A superb mantel-piece with three tiers of subjects carved by his hand is in the Town Hall of Antwerp.

Coeck also executed a window for the Church of Notre Dame in Antwerp.

Among his pupils were the painters, Pierre Clays, Gilles de la Hee, Nicholas van Nieucasteel, surnamed Nicholas Lucidel, and Pierre Breugel the Elder (who married his daughter).

Lambert Lombard (1506-66), went to Italy in 1537. He returned to Liege in 1539. He was a painter, and more particularly an architect. He set up a school of painting and engraving, the first of its kind there. Three of his pupils brought great honour to his school: these were Francis Floris, called the "Flemish Raphael," "William Key and Hubert Goltzius. He worked very little himself beyond designs for engravers, and more often for paintings on glass. He was rich enough to indulge his taste for objects of antiquity. It was at this date that the study of numismatics came into existence in Belgium, and learned men took delight in setting up a cabinet of medals and coins: among the wealthy it became even a mania that was carried to extremes. Lombard's collection, the beauty of which was praised by all his contemporaries, was composed of medals, coins, carvings, and other objects of high antiquity.

Hubert (or Hugo) Goltius (or Goltz), was a painter, engraver, numismatologist and historian. He was born at Venlo in 1526 and died in 1583. He studied under Lambert Lombard and was also influenced by Erasmus' friend, van Watervliet, who guided him in his classic studies, Greek and Roman antiquities, etc.

Goltius visited all the great towns in Belgium, Holland, Germany, France and Italy, in order to examine the cabinets of collectors for material for his book on coins. His itinerary reveals an astonishing number of collectors of coins and medals.

Goltius made the decorations in Antwerp for the fetes of the Golden Fleece. He was also appointed historian to Philip II.

A marriage coffer of leather, designed by him, represented the King of Spain and Margaret of Austria standing beside the Fountain of Love.

The craze for medals, coins and curios during the sixteenth century was widespread. We have seen that the Regent had a coffer full of corals and various trifles. To meet the demand for housing curios, the cabinet was developed. This was usually a double chest, the upper one smaller than the other. Both closed with doors and contained drawers and shelves.

Like almost all the pieces of furniture called "cabinets" of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the one reproduced on Plate VIII is in two parts, the upper being smaller than, and standing back on the top of, the lower. It is carved in walnut wood, enriched with sculptures, and here and there plaques of marble are set in order to relieve the monotony resulting from the sole use of wood. Stone of various colours was largely used at this period, as an inlay for furniture in the Netherlands and France, and more especially in Germany.