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The main characteristic of non-religious architecture in the seventeenth-century Southern Netherlands is its conservative nature, in sharp contrast with the new monumentality in ecclesiastical building. Until about the middle of the seventeenth century the most striking examples of civic architecture were mainly to be seen in Antwerp. Stylistic differentiation is almost entirely restricted to decorative ornament, the presence or absence of which was directly related to the financial resources of the owner.
The garden front of the Huis Delbeke (Delbeke House)shows the influence of the garden front of Rubens's House with its rusticated decoration and its sculpturally developed triangular and segmental pediments, with their alternating rhythm.
The photo shows the garden façade of the Delbeke House.
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