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Cathedral. GHENT. 6. Route. 61
‘In the very centre of the picture a square altar is hung with red
damask and covered with white cloth. Here stands a lamb, from whose
breast a stream of blood issues into a crystal glass. Angels kneel round
the altar with parti-coloured wings and variegated dresses, many of them
praying with joined hands, others holding aloft the emblems of the pas-
sion, two in front waving censers. From a slight depression of the
ground to the right, a little behind the altar, a numerous band of female
saints is issuing, all in rich and varied costumes, fair hair floating over
their shoulders, and palms in ee hands; foremost may be noticed St.
Barbara with the tower and St. Agnes. From a similar opening on the
left, por cardinals, bishops, ; and minor clergy advance, some
holding croziers and cros palms. This, as it were, forms one
phase of the adoration. In the centre near the b of the picture a
small octagonal fountain of ston with an iron jet and tiny spouts,
projects a stream into a rill, wh pebbly bottom is seen through the
pellucid water. The fountain and the altar, with vanishing points on
different horizons, prove the Van Eycks to have been unacquainted with
the science of linear perspective. Two distinct groups are in adoration
on each side of the fountain. That on the right comprises the twelve
apostles, in li eyish-violet cloaks kneeling ‘pare-footed on the sward,
with long hair and beards, expressing in their noble faces the intensity
of their faith. On their right stands a gorgeous array of three popes,
two cardinal monks en bishops, and a miscellaneous crowd of church
and laymen. The group on the left of the fountain is composed of kings
and princes in various costumes, the foremost of them kneeling, the rest
standing, none finer than that of a dark bearded man in a red cloth cap
i forward in full front towards the spectator, dressed in a dark
blue mantle, and holding a sprig of myrtle. The whole of the standing
figures command prolonged attention from the variety of the attitudes
and expressio the stern resolution of some, the eager glances of others,
the pious ri zation and contemplative serenity of the remainder. The
faithful who have thus reached the scene of the sacrifice are surrounded
by a perfect jerness of flowering shrubs, lilies, and other beautiful
plants, and remain in quiet contemplation of the Lamb.’
Numerous w besides are represented on the wanes of the
triptych, moving the place of worship. On the left is a band
of crusaders, the foremost of whom, on a dapple grey charger, A clad in
armour with an undercoat of green slashed stuff, a crown of laurel on
s brow, and a lance in his hand. On his left two knights are riding,
also in complete armour, one on a white, the other on a brown charger,
carrying J th streamers. Next to the third figure, a nobleman in
a fur cap bestrides an ass, whose ears appear above the press; on his
left a crowned monarch on a black horse; behind them a crowd of kings
and princes. In rear of them, and in the Jast panel to the left, Hubert
Van Kyck with Jong brown hair, in a dark cap, the fur peak of which
is turned up, ambles forward on a spirited white pony. He is dressed
in blue velvet lined with grey fur; his saddle has long gr housings.
In the same line with him two riders are mounted on sorrel nags, and
next them again a man in a black turban and dark brown dress trimmed
with fur, whom historians agree in calling John Van Eyck. The face is
turned towards Hubert, and therefore away from the direction taken by
the cavalcade; further in the rear are sey eral horsemen. The two groups
proceed along a sandy path, which yields under the horses’ hoofs, and
seems to have been formed by the detritus of a block of stony ground
rising perpendicularly bet
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hind, on each side of which the view extends
to a rich landscape, with towns and churches in the distance on one
hand, and a beautiful vista of blue and snow mounfains on the other.
WwW hite fleecy clouds float in the sky. There is not to be found in the whole
Flemish school a picture in which human figures are grouped, designed,
or painted with so much perfection as in this of the mystic Lamb. Nor
is it possible to find a more complete or better distributed composition,
more natural attitudes, or more dignified CEPI CABOD, Nowhere in the
pictures of the early part of the 45th century can such airy landscape |