pressive features of
his wife, who kneels opposite to him in the same attitude, and in still
plainer attire.

At Hubert van Eyck's death, on the 16th of September, 1426, Jodocus
Vydts engaged Jan van Eyck, the younger brother and scholar of Hubert,
to finish the picture in the incomplete parts.[14] A close comparison
of all the panels of this altar-piece with the authentic works of Jan
van Eyck shows that the following portions differ in drawing, colouring,
cast of drapery, and treatment, from his style, and may therefore with
certainty be attributed to the hand of Hubert:--of the inner side of the
upper series, the Almighty, the Virgin, St. John the Baptist, St.
Cecilia with the angels playing on musical instruments, and Adam and
Eve; of the inner side of the lower series, the side of the centre
picture with the apostles and saints, and the wings with the hermits and
pilgrims, though with the exception of the landscapes. On the other
hand, of the inner side of the upper series, the wing picture with the
singing angels is by Jan van Eyck; of the inner side of the lower
series, the side of the centre picture of the Adoration of the Lamb,
containing the patriarchs and prophets, etc., and the entire landscape;
the wing with the soldiers of Christ and the Righteous Judges, and the
landscapes to the wing with the hermits and pilgrims; finally, the
entire outer sides of the wings, comprising the portraits of the
founders, and the Annunciation. The Prophet Zechariah and the two
sibyls alone show a feebler hand.[15]

About one hundred years after the completion of this altar-piece an
excellent copy of it was made by Michael Coxis for Philip II. of Spain.
The panels of this work, like those of the original, are dispersed; some
are in the Berlin Museum, some in the possession of the King of Bavaria,
and others in the remains of the King of Holland's collection at the
Hague. A second copy, which comprises the inside pictures of this great
work, from the chapel of the Town-house at Ghent, is in the Antwerp
Museum.

_Handbook of Painting: the German, Flemish, and Dutch Schools_,
based on the handbook of Kugler remodelled by Dr. Waagen and
revised by J.A. Crowe (London, 1874).

FOOTNOTES:

[11] Carton, _Les Trois Freres van Eyck_, p. 36.

[12] Marc van Vaernewijck in a MS. of 1566-8, describing the Ghent
troubles, states that on the 19th of August, two days before the
iconoclasts plundered St. Bavon, the picture o