This great cathedral was completely sacked by the Calvinists, in the
latter part of the sixteenth century, previous to which its fittings
were in perfect unison with the edifice. But, unfortunately, when it was
restored to Catholic worship, the spirit of Paganism had entered into
the arts, and the new furniture exhibited all the marks of debasement.
However, the old traditions still ruled the mind as regarded principles,
and it will be seen, by reference to the plate, that the screens were
conceived in the old spirit; and although the introduction of altars
against the nave pillars was a great and distressing innovation, yet
they were still protected by elevated screen-work, and not left open for
profanation. There is a most striking correspondence between this
screen-work and that round the altar of S. Michele, at Florence. The
whole of these fittings have disappeared, partly during the occupation
of the French, and partly by injudicious repairs. The choir is now being
lined with stalls, some of the details of which are deserving of great
commendation, but they have been designed in utter contradiction to
ecclesiastical tradition. If this is to be made a cathedral church, the
choir should be enclosed; but if it is to serve a parochial purpose,
instead of the lofty canopies, and solid back, the choir should have
been enclosed with open metal screens, like those at Lubeck, and an open
rood loft across the choir; at present it is neither one thing nor the
other. The whole entrance of the choir is open to the public, who crowd
up to the high altar, and the stalls are filled with the first comers;
the whole arrangement is disgraceful, unecclesiastical, and irregular,
and loudly calls for reform. Frequented as this church is by such masses
of people, the screen should certainly be an open one, and the back,
above the stalls, should correspond. There are two enormous canopies,
over nothing, that stand against the pillars; at first I imagined they
indicated the seat of some dean or dignitary, but I soon found they
projected only over a vacant space, by which the stalls were ascended,
and were simply placed there as a vehicle for exhibiting a great
assemblage of pinnacles and buttresses, and expending a sum of money
unhappily, that would have half built the rood loft. The authority from
which I have taken the representation of the old screen, &c., is a
picture by Peter Neefs, preserved at Bicton, the seat of Lady Rolle.
All the churches in Antwerp have been wofully modernized; but there is
something like a screen at S. James's: two huge masses of marble wall,
projecting from each of the great pillars, at the entrance of the choir.
It is a work of the seventeenth century, heavy, and ill-contrived; and
for a parochial church, most unsuitable.