62 Route 6. GHENT. Inner Town:

be met. Nor is the talent of the master confined to the appropriate
representation of the human form, his skill extends alike to the brute
creation. The horses, whose caparisons are of the most precious kind,
are admirably drawn and in excellent movement. One charger stretches
his neck to lessen the pressure of the bit; another champs the curb
with Flemish phlegma; a third throws his head down between his fore
legs; the pony ridden by Hubert Van Eyck betrays a natural fire, and
frets under the restraint put upon it.’

‘On the right side of the altarpiece we see a noble band of ascetics
with tangled hair and beards and deep complexions, dressed in frock
and cowl, with staves and rosaries, moving round the base of a rocky
bank, the summit of which is wooded and interspersed with palms and
orange trees. Two female saints, one of them the Magdalen, bring up
the rear of the hermit band, which moves out of a grove of orange trees
with glossy leaves and yellow fruit. In the next panel to the right, and
in a similar landscape, St. Christopher, pole in hand, in a long red cloak
of inelegant folds, overtops the rest of his companions — pilgrims with
grim and solemn faces. Here a palm and a cypress are painted with
» urprising fidelity.”

‘The altarpiece, when closed, has not the all-absorbing interest of
its principal scenes when open. It is subdivided first into two parts, in
the upper portion of which is the Annunciation, in the lower the portraits
of Jodocus Vydts and his wife, and imitated statues of St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. In the semicircular projection of
the upper central panel are the Sibyls, whilst half figures of Zachariah
and Micah are placed in the semicircles above the annunciate angel and
Virgin. With the exception of Jodocus and his wife and the Annun-
ciation, the whole of this outer part of the panels may have been executed
under supervision by the pupils of the Van Eycks.’ — Crowe d& Cavalcaselle.
The Early Flemish Painters.

This work has undergone various vicissitudes. Philip II. endea-
youred to obtain possession of it, but at length was obliged to be satis-
fied with a copy executed for him by Cowie in 1559. It was with
difficulty rescued from Puritanical outrage in 1566, and from danger
of burning in 1641. An expression of disapproval by the Emp.
Joseph II., in 1781, regarding the nude figures of Adam and Eve,
induced the churchwardens to keep the picture closed. In 1794
the central pictures were taken to Paris, and when they were re-
stored in 1815 they alone were replaced in their original positions.
Six wings (except the Adam and Eve) were ignorantly sold in 1816
to a dealer, from whom they were purchased by the museum of
Berlin for 410,000 fr. The two wings with Adam and Eve were
removed to the museum at Brussels in 1864 (see p. 115), and are
here replaced by modern copies by Victor Lagye.

7th Chapel: Honthorst, Pieti; at the side, De Crayer, Christ
on the Cross. — 8th: On the right, Monument of Bishop Van der
Noot, by P. Verschaffelt (1778). — 410th: Rubens, *St. Bavon (p. 76)
renounces his military career in order to assume the cowl. The saint,
kneeling in full armour, is received on the steps of the church by
St. Amandus (p. 79), after having distributed all his property among
the poor (shown below). This altar-piece, unfortunately in poor
preservation, dates from 41624 (sketch in the National Gallery in
London), At the altar: O. Vaenius, Raising of Lazarus, adjoining
which is the monument of Bishop Damman (a. 1609). — We now