Mr. Van de Werve, whose large fortune justified a lavish expenditure, was
accustomed to receive at his residence every month the principal gentlemen
of Antwerp, strangers as well as citizens. His love for art and science
induced him to bring together the best artists and the most noted literary
men of the day with the high-born, wealthy, and influential members of
society at Antwerp; and his house had become the rendezvous of all that
was excellent and celebrated in the city.

Nearly the whole of the anterior part of the house was occupied by a vast
hall, called the Ancestral Hall, because it was decorated by numberless
souvenirs of his illustrious family. The walls, for a certain distance
were sculptured in oak wood, so artistically designed, and so delicately
wrought, that at the first glance it looked like embroidery in various
colors. To produce this effect, the natural brown of the oak had been left
in some places. All the rest shone with gold and silver, which was
relieved by a beautiful scarlet, brilliant yellow, and the softest
sky-blue. The many small figures scattered over the ornaments were highly
gilded. From the wooden wainscot arose slight pillars, which, uniting in
the Gothic style, supported the heavy beams of the ceiling. Six of these
beams were visible: all were covered with highly colored sculptures. Their
decorations harmonized with, those of the wainscot, and seemed an
expansion of it, as though the architect wished the exquisite ornaments of
the beams of the ceiling to be considered a luxuriant verdure, springing
from trunks rooted in the oaken wainscot.