Of his life little is known, except that he was the son of the great engraver of the same name and was born in Utrecht in 1585. His Boutique Menuiserie contains a series of plates of furniture. It is extremely rare today, but was doubtless in every cabinet-maker's shop of the period.

The furniture, it will be noticed, is "new." The book was published two years after the death of Rubens, while the style Rubens was still in its glory. From a study of these plates, together with the engravings of Abraham Bosse, we can obtain a clear vision of an interior, either Flemish or French, during the reign of Louis XIII, for Crispin's furniture designs were as well known to French as to Flemish workmen. Three of his chairs, two of them folding, are reproduced in Figs. 31, 32, and 33; Fig. 34 also shows a small table by him.

We have already caught a glimpse of Rubens's home in Antwerp; and now we cannot do better than look at the interior of the other great master in Amsterdam. When that city passed through a great financial crisis in 1653, Rembrandt suffered in company with his fellow-citizens. He had been living like a lord in a splendid dwelling sumptuously furnished and decorated, and surrounded by a multitude of objects of art which he loved to collect - armour, robes, busts, ceramics, engravings, and famous pictures by Italian and native artists, as well as his own productions. To satisfy his creditors, these all came to the hammer in 1656. The inventory gives us a good idea of his home. In the vestibule, there were four Spanish chairs covered with Russia leather, four Spanish chairs with black seats, and one low form of pinewood.

The Antechamber contained an ebony-framed mirror and an ebony stand, a marble basin, a walnut table with a Tournay cover, and seven Spanish chairs covered with green velvet. The "Room behind the Antechamber" was furnished with a gilded frame, a small oak table, four common chairs, a copper cauldron, and a portmanteau. In the "Hall," there were six chairs with blue seats, a large mirror, an oak table, with an embroidered tablecloth, a bed with blue hangings, two pillows and two covers, a matted chair, a set of fire-irons, and a "sacerdan" wood press, and a "sacerdan" small kas with doors. The "Art Cabinet" contained three East India cups, one East India powder box, one East India "jatte" with a little Chinaman, one East India workbox, two porcelain "casoars," two porcelain figurines, one Japanese casque, plaster casts, copper and pewter, globes, and seventy natural history specimens. On the floor at the back were a great quantity of shells, marine plants and other curiosities, statues, arms, armour, etc. Here also were many portfolios filled with choice engravings, etchings and drawings, besides one old chest, four chairs with black leather seats, and one pine table.

In the "Small Studio," there are musical instruments and armour (119 pieces), and a great number of casts of hands, arms and heads from nature, and many various kinds of woven materials. The " Large Studio" has in it twenty pieces - halberds, swords, and Indian fans, costumes of an Indian man and woman, cuirasses and trumpets. The "Studio Entry" is decorated with the skins of a lion and lioness, and other furs. A bedstead stands in the "Little Room." The "Small Kitchen" is furnished with a little table, a larder, some old chairs, two cushioned chairs, some pots and pans, and a tin waterpot. Nine white plates and two earthen plates decorate the "Corridor." Rembrandt owned a good deal of linen; and most of the rooms contained pictures.

No one looking at Rembrandt's own pictures can fail to appreciate his fondness for dressing himself and his models in feathers, armour and fantastic costumes, which, as we have seen, he kept as properties in his Studio.

Rembrandt resided in the Jewish quarter in Amsterdam from 1640 to 1656. His house, Jodenbree Straat, No. 4, next door but one to the bridge, is marked by a simple memorial tablet.

Plate XXV. - Panelled Bedstead. RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM.

We can form a very clear idea of the general appearance of a street of the Renaissance period from many old houses that still stand in Belgium and Holland. The interiors in some cases we can also reconstruct by the aid of inventories. Mechlin is particularly rich in buildings of the sixteenth century. The Mont de Piete, once the home of Canon Busleyden, is a Gothic building of 1507, restored in 1864; on the Quay au Sel, there are several old timber-houses, the Salm Inn, with a Renaissance facade of 1530-34, and 'a house in the Franco-Flemish style, very rich in detail. There is also an interesting timber-house in the Quay aux Avoines.

Bruges and Ypres contain several houses of the seventeenth century; Ghent has two private houses on the Quai de la Grue (one of which is named the Vliegenden Hert); and Antwerp, several Guildhouses. Holland is richer in houses and buildings of this century. In Amsterdam, the royal palace - the Dam - was built in 1648 as a Town Hall by Jacob van Kampen; the house of Admiral de Ruyter may be seen on the Prins-Hendrik-Kade, and the house of Baron Six in the Heerengracht, and on the Heerengracht and Keizersgracht are many houses of the seventeenth century.

There are also a number of seventeenth century houses of great interest to the student of architecture in Alk-maar. The Stadhuis, in Enkhuisen, dates from 1688; Sneek has a water-tower of 1615, which was restored in 1878; Zwolle has a guard-house of 1614; and the police-office of Deventer is a Renaissance structure of 1632. Several brick buildings of the seventeenth century still stand in the Zaadmarkt and Groenmarkt of Zutphen; there are several houses in Bommel of this period, including the famous house of Maarten van Rossum, now a district court; and the weigh-house and meat market of Gouda date from 1668 and 1691.