Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/640

 'JOS HOLLAXD. ' Part II. detail would not only have been in its right place, but would have expressed the reason of its being there, and the purpose to which it was applied. To the want of artistic feeling, or real knowledge of the style, which is shown in the designs of the Dutch churches, must be added the inferiority of the material in which they were carried out. Some are wholly of brick, and few are entirely of stone, though most of them have an admixture of the nobler material — and where brick is employed, without great care and artistic feeling, the result is generally poor and unsatisfactory. Judged by their dimensions alone, the churches of Holland ought to be almost as interesting as those of Belgium, for they are generally large, with lofty and well-proportioned aisles, and transepts which project boldly. They have frequently tall and not ungraceful western towers, and sometimes large windows filled with good tracery, though mostly of a late age. Notwithstanding all these requisites of a per- fect Gothic church, there is not one of them that must not be consid- ered a failure, from the causes just mentioned. These remarks apply especially to the great churches at Haarlem, Leyden, and Rotterdam, two at Amsterdam, and the two at Delft, the older of which contain some details worthy of attention. That at Gouda is remarkable for the beauty of its painted glass, though the architecture of the church is very unworthy of so brilliant an ornament. The church at Dort is older than most of these, and has a venera- ble look about it that hides many of the faults of its architecture, but it will not bear examination. The churches of Utrecht and Bois le Due are to some extent exceptions to the general poverty of design which characterizes the churches of Holland. This is owing, probably, to the situation of these two churches on the verge of the province, and their proximity to Belgium and Germany. That at Utrecht consists at the present day of merely two fragments — a choir and a tower, the nave that joined them having been destroyed by a storm and never replaced. What remains is good late German, though it is much disfigured by modei-n additions. The church at Bois le Due is still a large and richly orna- mented church, with a good deal of stone-work about it ; but being too large for the decaying town in which it stands, it has suffered much from nearlect, and is now in a verv ruinous condition. The church at Kampen, on the Zuyder Zee, is better than most others, and many of the smaller churches on the borders of the prov- ince are worthy of more attention than they liave received. There are few abbeys or monastic buildings of any importance to be found, such establishments never havinii; been suited to the industrious character of the Dutch people.