of fallen man. The lower central
picture shows the Lamb of the Revelation, whose blood flows into a cup;
over it is the dove of the Holy Spirit; angels, who hold the
instruments of the Passion, worship the Lamb, and four groups, each
consisting of many persons, advance from the sides: they comprise the
holy martyrs, male and female, with priests and lay-men; in the
foreground is the fountain of life; in the distance the towers of the
heavenly Jerusalem. On the wing pictures, other groups are coming up to
adore the Lamb; on the left, those who have laboured for the kingdom of
the Lord by worldly deeds--the soldiers of Christ, and the righteous
judges; on the right, those who, through self-denial and renunciation of
earthly good, have served Him in the spirit--holy hermits and pilgrims;
a picture underneath, which represented hell, finished the whole.

This work is now dispersed: the centre pictures and the panels of Adam
and Eve only being in Ghent.[12] The lower picture of hell was early
injured and lost, and the others form some of the greatest ornaments of
the gallery of the Berlin Museum.[13]

The three figures of the upper centre picture are designed with all the
dignity of statue-like repose belonging to the early style; they are
painted, too, on a ground of gold and tapestry, as was constantly the
practice in earlier times: but united with the traditional type we
already find a successful representation of life and nature in all their
truth. They stand on the frontier of two different styles, and, from the
excellence of both, form a wonderful and most impressive whole. In all
the solemnity of antique dignity the Heavenly Father sits directly
fronting the spectator--his right hand raised to give the benediction to
the Lamb, and to all the figures below; in his left is a crystal
sceptre; on his head the triple crown, the emblem of the Trinity. The
features are such as are ascribed to Christ by the traditions of the
Church, but noble and well-proportioned; the expression is forcible,
though passionless. The tunic of this figure, ungirt, is of a deep red,
as well as the mantle, which last is fastened over the breast by a rich
clasp, and, falling down equally from both shoulders, is thrown in
beautiful folds over the feet. Behind the figure, and as high as the
head, is a hanging of green tapestry adorned with a golden pelican (a
well-known symbol of the Redeemer); behind the head the ground is gold,
and on it, in a se