the Lord on fine chargers, simple and noble figures in
bright armour, with surcoats of varied form and colour. The three
foremost with the waving banners appear to be St. Sebastian, St. George,
and St. Michael, the patron saints of the old Flemish guilds, which
accompanied their earls to the Crusades. In the head of St. George, the
painter has strikingly succeeded in rendering the spirit of the chivalry
of the Middle Ages--that true heroic feeling and sense of power which
humbles itself before the higher sense of the Divinity. Emperors and
kings follow after him. The landscape is extremely beautiful and highly
finished, with rich and finely-formed mountain ridges, and the fleecy
clouds of spring floating lightly across. The second picture (the last
to the left) represents the righteous judges; they also are on
horseback, and are fine and dignified figures. In front, on a splendidly
caparisoned grey horse, rides a mild benevolent old man, in blue velvet
trimmed with fur. This is the likeness of Hubert, to whom his brother
has thus dedicated a beautiful memorial. Rather deeper in the group is
John himself, clothed in black, with his shrewd, sharp countenance
turned to the spectator. We are indebted to tradition for the knowledge
of these portraits.

Both these wing pictures have the special interest of showing us, by
means of armour, rich costumes, and caparisons, a true and particular
representation of the Court of Burgundy in the time of Philip the
Good--when it was confessedly the most superb court in Europe.

The upper wings, when closed, represented the Annunciation, and this was
so arranged that on the outer and wider ones (the backs of the two
pictures of angels singing and playing) were the figures of the Virgin
and the Angel Gabriel,--on the inner narrower ones (that is, on the back
of the Adam and Eve), a continuation of the Virgin's chamber. Here, as
was often the case in the outside pictures of large altar-pieces, the
colouring was kept down to a more uniform tone, in order that the full
splendour might be reserved to adorn with greater effect the principal
subject within. The angel and the Holy Virgin are clothed in flowing
white drapery, but the wings of the angel glitter with a play of soft
and brilliant colour, imitating those of the green parrot. The heads are
noble and well painted; the furniture of the room is executed with great
truth, as well as the view through the arcade which forms the background