Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Flanders, probably under the influence of the brick workers of the abbeys there;
but in Holland, ordinary rectangular bricks were cut and carved to shape.
This statement is not upheld by the author, as findings show that the histor-
ical Dutch practice had been to make green-moulded, special-shaped bricks
to order, whereas in Flanders they were usually fired before being cut and
shaped, as described earlier in Chapter 1.
Hollstelle also considers the firing of moulded bricks in the desired form as
a characteristic expression of a fully developed brickmaker's art and sees post-
fired mouldings as a fundamental misuse of the material. This is simply not
so, and wholly misunderstands the difference and nature of utilising a baked
brick for cut and rubbed or gauged brickwork, as opposed to mistakenly using
a fully-fired brick (needing its all-important protective fireskin). Once this is
understood, one can then see that gauged brickwork is in fact characteristic of
a fully understood and highly developed art.
Bricklayer's Guilds and 'Gildeproeven'
The guild system of the seventeenth-century bricklayers/masons in the
Netherlands followed rules and practices similar to Flanders; particularly in
the wealthy provinces of North and South Holland, that established very high
standards. The master bricklayers, despite the advent of professional architects
during the seventeenth century, were still designing and erecting buildings with
reference to pattern topics published in the Netherlands at that time. This style
was referred to in Amsterdam as 'Contractors Classicism'. The very best of final-
year apprentices wishing to advance to the status of a master had to demonstrate
their ability by constructing a 'gildeproeven' (masterpiece) to be assessed and
passed by the 'proefmeesters' (proof-masters). 'Geslepen metselwerk', or gauged
brickwork was considered the supreme test for the bricklayers, requiring knowl-
edge of measurement, setting-out, geometry, fine skills in cutting and shaping
bricks, and in setting and finishing the brickwork (Kurpershoek, 1997, 18-29).
This is remarkably similar to the earlier, sixteenth-century, 'Proefstucken' mod-
els demanded by the Flemish guilds (Van der Horst, 1998). As in Flanders these
were for the final-year apprentices demonstrating mastery to their mentors.
Although it was not customary for all bricklayers' guilds in the Dutch towns to
demand this high level of proof, especially in the earlier periods when there was
no clear separation between the brickmasons and the stonecutter. Following the
guild rules of 1579, a bricklayer/mason could only join the guild if he had prac-
tised his craft, as an apprentice, for four years, followed by working for two more
years with the same master. Amazingly, there are two places in the Netherlands
where examples of 'gildeproeven' from the seventeenth century still survive; the
best, not surprisingly, is in the wealthy city of Amsterdam.
