The direct route from the Place d’Armes to the Abbey is by the Quai du Bas Escaut, and the Rue Van Eyck. A pleasanter route, however, is by the Rue de Brabant and the Rue Digue de Brabant to the Place d’Artevelde, passing through the handsomest part of the modern town. (In the Place itself stands the fine modern Romanesque Church of St. Anne, the interior of which is sumptuously decorated in imitation of mosaic.) Thence, follow the Quai Porte aux Vaches to the Place Van Eyck. Cross the bridges over the Upper and Lower Schelde, and the Abbey lies straight in front of you.

Walk past the ivy-clad outer wall of the ruins to the white house at the corner of the street beyond it, where you will find the concierge (notice above the door). One franc is sufficient tip for a party. The concierge conducts you over the building, which has a picturesque cloister, partly Romanesque, but mainly 15th century. The centre of the quadrangle is occupied by a pretty and neatly-kept garden of the old sweet-scented peasant flowers of Flanders. The most interesting part of the ruins, however, is the octagonal Romanesque Baptistery or “Chapel of St. Macaire,” a fine piece of early vaulting, with round arches, very Byzantine in aspect. The chapel rests on massive piers, and its Romanesque arches contrast prettily with the transitional Gothic work of the cloister in the neighbourhood. Within are several fragments of Romanesque sculpture, particularly some *capitals of columns, with grotesque and naïve representations of Adam and Eve with the Lord in the Garden, and other similar biblical subjects. (Examine closely.) There is likewise an interesting relief of St. Amand preaching the Gospel in Flanders, and a man-at-arms in stone, of Artevelde’s period, removed from the old coping of the Belfry.

We next go on to the Crypt, the tombs of the monks, the monastery cellars, etc., where are collected many pieces of ancient sculpture, some found in the ruins and others brought from elsewhere. The Refectory at the end, which for some time served as the Church of St. Macaire, is now in course of transformation into a local Museum of Monumental Art. It contains some good old tombs, and an early fresco (of St. Louis?) almost obliterated. But the garden and cloister are the best of the place, and make together a very pretty picture. You can return by the Quai and the Rue St. Georges, or by the Place St. Bavon and the Archiepiscopal Palace. (The castellated building to the L., much restored, near the Cathedral, known as the Steen of Gérard le Diable, is the sole remaining example of the mediæval fortified houses in Ghent.)

Another monastery, a visit to which will lead you through the extensive southern portion of the city, is the (wholly modernized) Benedictine Abbey of St. Pierre (I do not recommend it). To reach it, you take the Rue Courte du Jour and the Rue Neuve St. Pierre, to the large square known as the Plaine St. Pierre, partly obtained by demolition of the monastery buildings. It is situated on rising ground, which may pass for a hill in Flanders. This is, in its origin, the oldest monastery in Ghent, having been founded, according to tradition, by St. Amand himself, in 630, on the site of an ancient temple of Mercury. The existing buildings, however, hardly date in any part beyond the 17th century. The Church of Notre-Dame de St. Pierre was erected between 1629 and 1720, in the grandiose style of the period. It is vast, and not unimposing. The interior has a certain cold dignity. The pictures are mostly of the school of Rubens, many of them dealing with St. Peter and St. Benedict; among them are good specimens. The best, by De Crayer, shows the favourite Benedictine subject of St. Benedict recognising the envoy of King Totila, who personated the king.

The Plaine de St. Pierre is used for the amusing yearly fair, from Mi-Carême to Easter.

The Museum of Painting (a small and unimportant gallery) is situated in part of an old Augustinian monastery, which is reached by the Oudeburg and the Rue Ste. Marguerite. (Church by the side, full of Augustinian symbols.) Open daily from 9 to 12, and 2 to 5, free. (I do not advise a visit, unless you have plenty of time to spare.) The Picture Gallery is on the second floor.

The Rooms to the L. contain modern Belgian and French pictures, many of them possessing considerable merit, but not of a sort which enters into the scheme of these Guide-books.

The Rooms to the R. of the staircase contain the early pictures.

1st Room. F. Pourbus: A votive triptych for recovery from sickness. In the centre, Isaiah prophesying to Hezekiah his recovery. On the wings, the Crucifixion, and the donor with his patron St. James. Outside the wings, in grisaille, the Raising of Lazarus (in two panels), giving a symbolical meaning to this votive offering. On the wall beside it, several tolerable pictures of the old Flemish School: a good Ex Voto of a donor, with the Madonna and Child, by an unknown artist; a writhing Calvary, by Van Heemskerk; a Holy Family, by De Vos; and a quaint triptych of St. Anne and her family, with her daughter, the Madonna, and her grand-child, the Saviour, at her feet. Around are grouped Joseph, Mary Cleophas, Zebedee, Alpheus, Joachim, the husband of Anna, and Mary Salome, with her children, James and John. This queer old work, by an unknown artist, is interesting for comparison with the great Quentin Matsys, which you will see at Brussels. St. Joseph holds in his hand the rod that has flowered. (See Legends of the Madonna.)

Beneath this triptych are three interesting portrait groups of husbands and wives, 16th century. On the wings, a “Noli Me Tangere”—Christ and the Magdalen in the garden.

The 2nd Room has Dutch and Flemish works of the 17th century, mostly self-explanatory. The Last Judgment, by R. Coxcie, shows a late stage of a subject which we have already seen at Bruges, now reduced to an opportunity for the display of exaggerated anatomical knowledge. There are also several tolerable works of the School of Rubens, many of which are interesting mainly as showing the superiority of the Master to all his followers. Rombouts, The Five Senses, is, however, an excellent work of its own class. The centre of the further wall is occupied by a worthless picture of Duchastel’s, representing the Inauguration of Charles II. of Spain as Count of Flanders, in 1666, interesting mainly as a view of old Ghent. The action takes place in the Marché du Vendredi, the centre of which is occupied by the statue of Charles V., destroyed at the French Revolution. All round are the original picturesque houses, with their high Flemish gable-ends. On the R. is the Church of St. Jacques, much as at the present day. In front of the Municipal Council Chamber a platform is erected for the inauguration. The picture gives a good idea of the splendour of Ghent, even at the period of the Spanish domination.

Near it, Rubens’s St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, where the conventional elements of the crucified six-winged seraph, the rays proceeding from the five wounds to the saint’s hands, feet, and side, and the astonished brother, Leo, in the distance, are all preserved, though enormously transfigured. The colour is unpleasing. This is almost a replica of the work in the Cologne Museum. Rombouts—tolerable Holy Family. Close by, some of Hondekoeter’s favourite birds, and Zeghers’s flowers. Over the door, a fine De Crayer. In the centre of the room are a series of pictures from the Gospel History, by F. Pourbus, with the Last Supper and donor at the back of one, formerly a triptych.

The 3rd Room has pictures of the School of Rubens, many of them of considerable merit, particularly De Crayer’s Coronation of St. Rosalie and Vision of St. Augustine, in both of which he approaches within a measureable distance of the great master. His Judgment of Solomon is also excellent. Some other pictures in the room, however, exhibit the theatrical tendency of the 17th century in its worst form.

On the way back from the Picture Gallery, you pass on your L. the Rue Longue des Pierres, down which, a little way on the R., is a small Museum of Antiquities. I do not advise a visit to this. It contains one good brass, and some silver badges worn by ambassadors of Ghent, but otherwise consists, for the most part, of third-rate bric-à-brac.

Most visitors to Ghent go to see the Grand Béguinage. This was originally situated in a little district by itself, close to the gate of the Rabot, where its church, uninteresting, (dedicated, like that of Bruges, to St. Elizabeth of Hungary), still stands; but the site has been occupied by the town for new streets. The present Grand Béguinage lies on the road to Antwerp. It is a little town in miniature, enclosed by wall and moat, with streets and houses all very neat and clean, but of no archæological interest. Yet it forms a pleasant enough end for a short drive. And you can buy lace there. The description in Baedeker is amply sufficient.

Bruges is full of memories of the Burgundian Princes. At Ghent it is the personality of Charles V., the great emperor who cumulated in his own person the sovereignties of Germany, the Low Countries, Spain and Burgundy, that meets us afresh at every turn. He was born here in 1500, and baptized in a font (otherwise uninteresting) which still stands in the N. Transept of the Cathedral. Ghent was really, for the greater part of his life, his practical capital, and he never ceased to be at heart a Ghenter. That did not prevent the citizens from justly rebelling against him in 1540, after the suppression of which revolt Charles is said to have ascended the Cathedral tower, while the executioner was putting to death the ringleaders in the rebellion, in order to choose with his brother Ferdinand the site for the citadel he intended to erect, to overawe the freedom-loving city. He chose the Monastery of St. Bavon as its site, and, as we have seen, built there his colossal fortress, now wholly demolished. The Palace in which he was born and which he inhabited frequently during life, was known as the Cour du Prince. It stood near the Ancien Grand Béguinage, but only its name now survives in that of a street.

The Spaniard’s Castle was long the standing menace to freedom in the Low Countries. Within its precincts Egmont and Hoorn were imprisoned in 1568 for several months before their execution.

During the early Middle Ages, the Oudeburg was the residence of the Counts of Flanders in Ghent. Later on, that castellated building grew out of keeping with the splendour of the Burgundian Princes, and its place as a royal residence was taken by the Cour du Prince, already mentioned, which was inhabited by Maximilian and his wife, Mary of Burgundy, as well as by Philippe le Beau and Johanna of Spain, the parents of Charles V. No direct memorials of the great Emperor now exist in Ghent, his statue in the Marché du Vendredi having been destroyed; but a modern street commemorates his name, and mementoes of him crop up at every point in the city.

Though the Ghenters were rebellious subjects, Charles V. was proud of his capital, and several of his very bad bon mots, punning on the words Gand and gant, have been preserved for us. As Baedeker repeats these imperial jests, however, I need not detail them.

A. ORIGINS OF BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS was in a certain sense the ancient capital of Brabant, as Bruges and Ghent were the ancient capitals of West and East Flanders. It grew up (as early as the 8th century) on the banks of the little river Senne, whose course through its midst is now masked by the modern Inner Boulevards, built on arches above the unseen stream. The Senne is one of the numerous rivers which flow into the Schelde, and the original town clustered close round its banks, its centre being marked by the Grand’ Place and the church of St. Nicolas. Unlike Bruges and Ghent, however, Brussels has always been rather an administrative than a commercial centre. It is true, it had considerable trade in the Middle Ages, as its fine Hôtel-de-Ville and Guild Houses still attest; but it seems to have sprung up round a villa of the Frankish kings, and it owed at least as much to its later feudal lords, the Counts of Louvain, afterwards Dukes of Brabant, and to their Burgundian successors, as to its mercantile position.

The Senne was never a very important river for navigation, though, like most of the Belgian waterways, it was ascended by light craft, while a canal connected the town with the Schelde and Antwerp: but the situation of Brussels on the great inland trade route between Bruges or Ghent and Cologne gave it a certain mercantile value. Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Louvain, Maastricht, and Aix-la-Chapelle all formed stations on this important route, and all owed to it a portion of their commercial prestige.

The burgher town which was thus engaged in trade and manufactures was Flemish in speech and feeling, and lay in the hollow by the river and the Grand’ Place. But a lordly suburb began to arise at an early date on the hill to eastward, where the Counts of Louvain built themselves a mansion, surrounded by those of the lesser nobility. After 1380, the Counts migrated here from too democratic Louvain. Later on, in the fifteenth century, the Dukes of Burgundy (who united the sovereignty of Brabant with that of Flanders) often held their court here, as the population was less turbulent and less set upon freedom than that of purely commercial and industrial Bruges and Ghent. Thus the distinctive position of Brussels as the aristocratic centre and the seat of the court grew fixed. Again, the Dukes of Burgundy were French in speech, and surrounded themselves with French knights and courtiers; to suit the sovereigns, the local nobility also acquired the habit of speaking French, which has gradually become the language of one-half of Belgium. But the people of the Old Town in the valley were, and are still, largely Flemish in tongue, in customs, in sympathies, and in aspect; while the inhabitants of the Montagne de la Cour and the court quarter generally are French in speech, in taste, and in manners. We will trace in the sequel the gradual growth of Brussels from its nucleus by the river (the Lower Town), up the side of the eastern hill to the Palace district (the Upper Town), and thence through the new Quartier Léopold and the surrounding region to its modern extension far beyond the limits of the mediæval ramparts.

Choose an hotel in the airy and wholesome Upper Town, as near as possible to the Park or the Place Royale.

St. Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of Brussels: he will meet you everywhere, even on the lampposts. For the patroness, St. Gudula, see under the Cathedral.

B. THE HEART OF BRUSSELS

Go from your hotel to the Grand’ Place. It may be reached by either of two convenient roads; from the Place Royale by the Montagne de la Cour and the Rue de la Madeleine, or from the Park by the Montagne du Parc (which takes various names as it descends), and the Galérie St. Hubert. Either route brings you out at the end of the Galérie, whence a short street to the L. will land you at once in the Grand’ Place, undoubtedly the finest square in Europe, and the only one which now enables us to reconstruct in imagination the other Grand’s Places of Belgium and the Rhine country.

The most conspicuous building in the Place, with the tall tower and open spire, is the Hôtel-de-Ville, with one possible exception (Louvain) the handsomest in Belgium. It consists of a tapering central tower, flanked by two wings, their high-pitched roof covered with projecting windows. The ground floor is arcaded. The first and second floors have Gothic windows, altered into square frames in a portion of the building. The edifice is of different dates. The original Hôtel-de-Ville consisted only of the wing to your L., as you face it, erected in 1402. The R. wing, shorter in façade, and architecturally somewhat different, was added in 1443. The style of the whole, save where altered, is Middle Gothic “Decorated”). The beautiful open spire should be specially noticed. On its summit stands a colossal gilt metal figure (1454) of the Archangel Michael, patron of the city. The statues in the niches are modern, and not quite in keeping with the character of the building. Observe, over the main portal, St. Michael, patron saint of the town, with St. Sebastian, St. Christopher, St. George, and St. Géry. Below are the Cardinal Virtues. The figures above are Dukes of Brabant. Inspect the whole façade carefully. You will hardly find a nobler piece of civic architecture in Europe. The carved wooden door has also a figure of St. Michael. The gargoyles and the bosses near the staircase entrance to the L. are likewise interesting.

Now, go round the corners to the L. and R., to inspect the equally fine façades, facing the Rues de l’Hôtel-de-Ville and de la Tête-d’Or. The back of the building is 18th century and uninteresting. You may also pass rapidly through the courtyard, which however has very little character. But you need not trouble to inspect the interior, unless you are an abandoned sight-seer.

The other important and beautiful building which faces the Hôtel-de-Ville is the Maison du Roi, formerly used as the Halle au Pain or Broodhuis. It is of late florid Gothic, verging towards Renaissance (1514, restored:) and is in three storeys, two of them arcaded. The first floor has an open gallery, like the loggia of a Venetian palace, whence ladies could view processions and ceremonies in the square below. The building terminates in a high roof, with projecting windows, and a handsome open tower and lantern. The whole has been recently rebuilt and profusely gilded. Within, is a small Communal Museum (open free daily, 10 to 4). Come again often to view these two noble halls.

The third principal building (on the E. side of the Square) known as the Maison des Ducs was the Public Weighing House, constructed in a debased Renaissance style, and also profusely gilded. It bears the date 1698, but is now unworthily occupied by sale rooms and shops.

The whole of the remaining space in this glorious square is surrounded by magnificent Guild Halls of the various corporations.

Beginning on the S. side (that occupied by the Hôtel-de-Ville), we have, first, L., two high-gabled houses of good 17th century domestic architecture. Next to them, R., comes the Hôtel des Brasseurs, dated 1752, and lately surmounted by a bronze equestrian statue of Charles of Lorraine. This was originally the Guild Hall of the Brewers. After that, again, rises the house known as “The Swan,” belonging to the Corporation of Butchers. The small building at the corner, next the Hôtel-de-Ville, with an open loggia, now in course of restoration, is known as the Maison de l’Étoile: a gilt star surmounts its gable.

The finest group of houses, however, is that to the W. side of the Square (R. of the Hôtel-de-Ville), unoccupied by any one prominent building. Beginning on the L., we have, first, the house known as “The Fox” (Le Renard), dated 1699: it is surmounted by a figure of St. Nicholas resuscitating the three boys, and is adorned with statues of Justice and the Four Continents on its first floor. Then comes the Guild Hall of the Skippers, or Maison des Bateliers, its gable constructed somewhat like the poop of a ship. The symbolism here is all marine—sailors above; then Neptune and his horses, etc. R. of this, we see the house known as “La Louve,” bearing as a sign Romulus and Remus with the wolf. This was originally the Guild Hall of the Archers. It shows an inscription stating that it was restored, after being burnt down, by the Confraternity of St. Sebastian (patron of archers). Its relief of the Saint with a bow is appropriate. The two remaining houses are “La Brouette,” dated 1697, and “Le Sac,” bearing on its gable a medallion with three faces.

The houses on the N. side, (that occupied by the Maison du Roi,) are less interesting, except those on the extreme R. Next to the Maison du Roi itself come two pretty little decorated houses, beyond which is the Guild Hall of the Painters, known as “The Pigeon,” and that called “La Taupe,” the Hall of the Tailors. The two last at the corner of the street have been recently restored. Several other fine houses of the same period close the vista of the streets round the corner.

This imposing group of Guild Halls dates, however, only from the end of the 17th century, mostly about 1697. The reason is that in 1695 the greater part of the Grand’ Place was destroyed by Marshal de Villeroi during the siege. Two years later, the Guild Houses were rebuilt in the ornate and somewhat debased style of the Louis XIV. period. Fortunately, the two great mediæval buildings, which stood almost isolated, did not share the general destruction.

Continue your stroll through the Lower Town.

From the Grand’ Place, take the Rue au Beurre, which leads W. towards the Bourse. On your R. you will pass the now uninteresting and entirely modernized Church of St. Nicolas. In its origin, however, this is one of the oldest churches in Brussels, and though it has long lost almost every mark of antiquity, it is instructive to recognise here again (as at Ghent) the democratic patron saint of the merchants and burgesses in close proximity to their Town Hall and their Guild Houses. The Bourse itself, which faces you, is a handsome and imposing modern building. Go past its side till you reach the line of the Inner Boulevards, which lead N. and S. between the Gare du Nord and the Gare du Midi.

This superb line of streets, one of the finest set of modern boulevards in Europe, has been driven straight through the heart of the Old Town, and the authorities offered large money prizes for the best façades erected along the route. Content yourself for the moment with a glance up and down, to observe the general effect, and then continue on to your L. along the Boulevard, where the first street on the R. will lead you to the little Place St. Géry, now occupied by a market, but originally the centre of Old Brussels. A stroll through the neighbouring streets is interesting, past the Halles Centrales, and the modern Church of St. Catherine, close by which stands the old Tower of St. Catherine, built into a modern block of houses. A little further on is the picturesque Tour Noire, the only remaining relic of the first fortifications of the city. You may prolong this walk to the Place du Béguinage, with a tolerable church. The quarter has no special interest, but it will serve to give you a passing idea of the primitive nucleus of mediæval Brussels.

I will interpolate here a few remarks about the more modern portion of the Old Town. The best way to see it is to take the tram along the Inner Boulevards from the Gare du Midi to the Gare du Nord. You will then pass, first, the Outer Boulevards (see later): next, R., the Palais du Midi; L., the Place d’Anneessens, with a statue of Anneessens, the intrepid and public-spirited magistrate of Brussels who was put to death in 1719 for venturing to defend the privileges of the city against the Austrian authorities. Just opposite this, you get a glimpse, R., of the Place Rouppe, to be noticed later. Passing the Place Fontainas, where many streets radiate, you arrive at the Bourse, already noticed. The handsome corner building (with dome) in front of you, which forms so conspicuous an element in the prospect as you approach, is the Hôtel Continental. Just in front of it expands a small new square (Place de Brouckere) still unfinished, on which a monument is now being erected to a late burgomaster (De Brouckere.) At this point, the Boulevard divides, the western branch following the course of the Senne (which emerges to light just beyond the Outer Boulevards,) while the eastern branch goes straight on to the Gare du Nord, passing at the first corner a handsome narrow house with gilt summit, which won the first prize in the competition instituted by the Municipality for the best façades on the new line of streets.

After reaching the Gare du Nord, you can return to the Gare du Midi by an alternative line of main streets, which also cuts through the heart of the Old Town, a little to the E. of the Inner Boulevards. It begins with the Rue Neuve, where a short street to the L. conducts you straight to the Place des Martyrs, a white and somewhat desolate square of the 18th century, (1775) adorned later with a Monument to the Belgians who were killed during the War of Independence in 1830. Shortly after this (continuing the main line) you pass two covered galleries, R. and L., and then arrive at the Place de la Monnaie. On your R. is the handsome building of the new Post Office; on your L., the white Ionic-pillared Grand Théâtre or Théâtre de la Monnaie, (opera, etc.). You then pass between St. Nicolas on the L., and the Bourse on the R., and continue on to the Place Rouppe, (ornamented with a fountain and a statue of Brussels personified): whence the Avenue du Midi leads you straight to the Place de la Constitution, in front of the South Station.

The remainder of the Western Half of the town is, for the most part, poor and devoid of interest, though it contains the principal markets, hospitals, and barracks, as well as the basins for the canals which have superseded the Senne.

C. THE PICTURE GALLERY

The national collection of pictures by Old Masters occupies the very handsome modern building known as the Palais des Beaux-Arts in the Rue de la Régence, immediately after passing through the Place Royale. (Four large granite columns in front: bronze sculpture groups to R. and L.) See plan on p. 108.

Enter by the big door with the four large granite columns. In the vestibule, turn to the R., and mount the staircase. Then pass through Room III. and Corridor A, to Room V. on the right, and on into

Room I.

Hall of the Old Flemish Masters.

This contains the most interesting works in the Gallery.

(You may also, if you like, pass through the collection of Sculpture in the Hall below, entering by Corridor D; in which case, turn to the L. into Rooms VIII. and II., and then to the R. into Room I., as above. This is the handsomer entrance. Much of the sculpture has great merit: but being purely modern, it does not fall within the scope of these Historical Guides.)

Begin in the middle of the wall, with No. 170, **Hubert van Eyck: the two outer upper shutters from the Adoration of the Lamb at Ghent, representing Adam and Eve, whose nudity so shocked Joseph II. that he objected to their presence in a church. These fine examples of the unidealized northern nude are highly characteristic of the Van Eycks’ craftsmanship. The Adam is an extremely conscientious and able rendering of an ordinary and ill-chosen model, surprisingly and almost painfully true in its fidelity to nature. The foreshortening of the foot, the minute rendering of the separate small hairs on the legs, the large-veined, every-day hands, the frank exhibition of the bones and sinews of the neck, all show the extreme northern love of realism, and the singular northern inattention to beauty. Compare this figure with the large German panels on a gold ground in the corners diagonally opposite (No. 624), if you wish to see how great an advance in truth of portraiture was made by the Van Eycks. The Eve is an equally faithful rendering of an uninteresting model, with protruding body and spindle legs. Above, in the lunettes, are the Offerings of Cain and Abel, and the Death of Abel, in grisaille. The backs of the shutters will be opened for you by the attendant. They exhibit, above, two Sibyls, with scrolls from their prophecies; below, the central portion of the Annunciation in the total picture, with a view through the window over the town of Ghent, and the last words of the angelic message, truncated from their context. This portion of the picture is, of course, only comprehensible by a study of the original altar-piece at Ghent.

Continue now along this wall to the R. of the Adam and Eve.

24. J. Gossart, called Mabuse (1470-1541), triptych with a Glorification of the Magdalen, given by a special votary. The central panel contains the chief event in her history—the Supper at the House of Simon the Pharisee. The host and one guest are admirably represented by Flemish portraits, exquisitely robed, and reproduced in marvellous detail. The figure of the Christ is, as usual, insipid. Beneath the table, the Magdalen, as central figure, with her alabaster box of ointment, kisses the feet of Christ. To the right, Judas, with his traditional red hair, and bearing the purse, asks, with a contemptuous gesture, Why this was not sold and given to the poor? In the background are the Apostles. Conspicuous amongst them is the conventional round face of St. Peter. The whole scene takes place in a richly decorated interior, with charming colouring and a finely rendered clock, curtain, and other accessories. Gossart visited Italy, and was one of the earliest Flemings to be influenced by the Italian Renaissance. You will not overlook the half-Gothic, half-Renaissance architecture, nor the chained squirrel, nor the semi-grotesque episodes in the background, very domestic and Flemish. (Moses above the Pharisee’s head marks his devotion.)

The left panel has another principal event in the Magdalen’s life, the Resurrection of Lazarus. Here also the Christ is insipid, but the Peter behind him, in a green robe, is finely characterized; and the John, affected. Beside are the Magdalen (same dress as before) and Martha, with a group of women and bystanders in singular head-dresses. In the background rises a very ideal Bethany. The right panel represents the kneeling donor (an unknown Premonstratensian abbot); on his book is written, “Mary Magdalen, pray for us.” Above him is seen the floating figure of the Magdalen, clad only in her own luxuriant hair, and raised aloft by angels from her cave, the Sainte Baume, in Provence, to behold the Beatific Vision. The background has Stations of the Cross, actually copied (with the rest of the landscape) from those at the Sainte Baume, which Gossart must have visited at his patron’s instance. On the backs of the wings, yet another scene in the life of the Saint, Christ and the Magdalen in the Garden. All this triptych is finely modelled and well-coloured.

552. Three panels attributed to Roger van der Weyden, of Tournai, town painter of Brussels, and teacher of Memling—a highly symbolical and religious master. Scenes from the Life of the Virgin. In the centre, the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple. The foreground is occupied by St. Joachim and St. Anna, parents of the little Virgin, who is seen mounting the regulation fifteen steps of the Temple, assisted by a somewhat unusual angel. At the head of the steps stands the High Priest. Within, the Virgins of the Lord are seen reading. To the right, still in the same panel, is the Annunciation, with the usual features, angel L., Madonna R., prie-dieu, bed, Annunciation lily, and arcade in the foreground. The left panel has the Circumcision; and the right, Christ among the Doctors in the Temple, with some excellent portraits in the background. (For Van der Weyden’s place in art, see Conway; for the Madonna ascending the steps, Legends of the Madonna.)

554. Also attributed to Roger van der Weyden: parts of the same series, Way to Calvary and the Crucifixion. The first has the usual brutal soldiers and a suffering but not very dignified Christ. (Study for comparison with others.) Beside the Virgin kneels the donor. The second has the conventional figures of the fainting Madonna, St. John, the Magdalen, and the other Maries: sun and moon darkened. In the distance of both, Flemish towns. (Good trees and landscape.)

105a. Fine Madonna with Child, and an apple by Van Clìve.

159. A crowded Calvary of the German School (late 15th century) with an emaciated Saviour, writhing and distorted thieves, and rather wooden spectators. Observe the St. Longinus in armour on the bay horse, piercing the side of Christ, for comparison hereafter with such later conceptions as Rubens’s at Antwerp. To the L. is the group of the Madonna, St. John, and the two Maries. The red eyes of St. John are characteristic of this scene, and descend to Van Dyck. The Maries are unmitigated German housewives. The Magdalen embraces the foot of the Cross. On the right are spectators and a brawl between soldiers. The background is full of characteristic German devils and horrors: also St. Veronica, Peter and Malchus, Judas hanging himself, etc.

Above it, 523, German School, attributed to Wolgemut, Christ and the Apostles: gold background. Very flavourless: shows the tendencies from which the Van Eycks revolted.

517. Roger van der Weyden: head of a Woman Weeping. Perhaps a portion of a large composition, or a study for one. More likely, a copy by a pupil. Much damaged.

Now, return along the same wall, beyond the great Van Eyck in the centre.

335. Bernard van Orley (transitional). Triptych (sawn in two), with the Patience of Job inside, and Lazarus and Dives outside. In the centre panel, the house falling upon the sons of Job. In the background, Job and his comforters: his house in flames, etc. Left panel, the flocks and herds of Job driven off by the Sabeans, with Satan before the Almighty at the summit. Right panel, Job in his last state more blessed than formerly: his comforters ask him to intercede for them. Beyond this again, the outer shutters (the panels having been sawn through): extreme left, Lazarus at the Rich Man’s gate; above, his new-born soul borne aloft to Heaven. Below, cooks, servants, etc. Extreme right, the Rich Man dying, attended by his physician (compare the Dropsical Woman by Gerard Dou in the Louvre). Below, Dives in Torments (in a very Flemish Hell) calling to Lazarus. Above, Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. This is a good characteristic example of the transitional period between the early and later Flemish art, greatly influenced by the Italian Renaissance. Van Orley travelled in Italy, and imitated Raphael in composition and drawing.

Beyond it, attributed to Roger van der Weyden, 553 (3 panels arbitrarily placed together). In the centre panel, two subjects. Left, the Nativity, elements all conventional: ruined temple, shed, ox and ass (extremely wooden), and St. Joseph in background. (He frequently bears a candle in this scene in order to indicate that the time is night.) Right, the Adoration of the Three Kings, old, middle-aged, young, the last a Moor. St. Joseph examines, as often, the Old King’s gift. Note his costume; it recurs in Flemish art. Left panel, Joseph of Arimathea with the Crown of Thorns, Nicodemus with the three nails, St. John, and the three Maries at the sepulchre. Right panel, Entombment, with the same figures: the Crown of Thorns and nails in the foreground. Great importance is always attached to these relics, preserved in the Sainte Chapelle, and at Monza, near Milan.

350. Patinier. Repose on the Flight into Egypt, with fine landscape background.

122. Cranach the Elder. Hard portrait of a very Scotch looking and Calvinistic Elder.

10. Amberger; German School, 16th century; excellent portrait of a gentleman; good beard.

569. Fine portrait of a man, by unknown artist. Flemish School, 16th century.

Above these, 618, Flagellation and Ascension, German School, with gilt backgrounds.

The skied pictures on this wall are only interesting as specimens of the later transitional period; when Flemish Art was aiming ill at effects unnatural to it.

Continue along the wall in the same direction.

By the door, 557, *portrait of Johanna of Spain (the Mad), mother of Charles V.: fine 15th century work.

531 and 532. Excellent old Flemish portraits.

Above these, 541, Scenes from the Life of the Virgin, with a donor. L., Nativity. Note the conventional elements. R., Circumcision. Above, Angel and patron saints.

557. *Portrait of Philippe le Beau, father of Charles V., companion to his wife opposite. Observe the collar of the Golden Fleece, and the united arms of Spain, Burgundy, etc., on his doublet. These portraits were originally the wings of a triptych.

544. A Holy Family and St. Anne, with the donor, a Franciscan monk, by a feeble imitator of Memling.

334. Tolerable portrait of a doctor, by Bernard Van Orley.

Next it, unnumbered, *Virgin and child. Gérard David. Our Lady feeds Christ with a characteristic Flemish wooden spoon.

348. Patinier, a painter chiefly memorable for his landscapes (of which this is a poor example). St. Jerome in the Desert, beating his breast with a stone before a crucifix. Beside him, his cardinal’s hat and lion. Not a good example of the master.

641. Holbein the Younger. Portrait of *Sir Thomas More.

Above, 575. Triptych, Flemish School, early 16th century. Centre panel, Miracle of St. Anthony of Padua and the Mule. (The Saint, carrying the Host, met a scoffer’s mule, which knelt till it passed.) Above, St. Bonaventura, attired as bishop, praying. These must be the chief objects of the donor’s devotion: they are also represented on the outer wings. Right and left, the donor (whose name was Tobias), with his personal patron, St. Raphael the Archangel (accompanying the young Tobias), and his wife, with St. Margaret and the Dragon. (For Tobias and the Fish, see Book of Tobit.)

174, skied, is a Last Judgment by Floris, also transitional and useful for comparison with others elsewhere. To R. and L., the Fall of the Damned and the Just Ascending recall early examples at Bruges.

534. Triptych of the Flemish School (Hugo van der Goes?); Centre panel, Assumption of Our Lady. Round the empty tomb are gathered the apostles; conspicuous among them, St. Peter with a censer, and St. James. Above, Our Lady taken up in a glory by Christ and the Holy Ghost, represented as like Him. In the background, her Funeral, St. Peter, as Pope, accompanying. Note the papal dress of St. Peter; St. James holds the cross as Bishop of Jerusalem. Left wing, the chief donor, accompanied by his guardian angel and two of the apostles, one of whom holds St. Peter’s tiara, as if part of the main picture. In the background, St. Thomas receiving the Holy Girdle from an Angel, a common treatment in Flemish art, though Italians make him receive it from Our Lady in person. (See my Guide to Florence.) Right wing, donor’s son and wife, with guardian angel. This triptych closely resembles No. 535 (which see later), except that that picture is in one panel, instead of three. I think 535 must have been painted first, and this taken from it, but made into a triptych; which would account for the unusual flowing over of the main subject into the wings.

419. Martin Schongauer (of Colmar, a German largely influenced by Roger van der Weyden), *Ecce Homo, painted like a miniature.

349. Patinier: another Repose on the Flight into Egypt. Observe persistence of the main elements. Notice in particular, as compared with the similar picture (350) close by, the staff, basket, etc., in the R. foreground.

546. School of Memling, perhaps by the master: a Bishop preaching: M. Fétis thinks, exhorting the Crusade in which Pope Nicholas V. wished to interest the princes of Europe after the fall of Constantinople.

621. School of Dürer: Fine and thoughtful portrait of a man, perhaps Erasmus.

Above it, 577, Flemish triptych (school of Van der Weyden) of the Adoration of the Magi, the elements in which will by this time be familiar to you. Right and left, Adoration of the Shepherds and Circumcision. The exceptional frequency of the subject of the Adoration of the Magi in the Low Countries and the Rhine district is to be accounted for by the fact that the relics of the Three Kings are preserved in Cologne Cathedral, and are there the chief object of local cult.

At the corner,

84 and 255, two good portraits by the German de Bruyn (early 16th cent.). Transitional: show Italian influence.

Between them, 619, unknown German, Wedding Feast at Cana. That you may have no doubt as to the reality of the miracle, a servant is pouring water into the jars in the foreground. He is much the best portion of the picture. Behind are Christ, St. John, and Our Lady. Next to them, the bride and bridegroom. (Compare the Gerard David in the Louvre.)

Above it, 624, a very quaint St. George and St. Catherine, early German School, with gold background. St. George is stiffly clad in armour, and painfully conscious of his spindle legs, with a transfixed dragon and broken lance at his feet. St. Catherine looks extremely peevish, with a Byzantine down-drawn mouth: she holds the sword of her martyrdom, and has a fragment of her wheel showing behind her. Her face is highly characteristic of the severity and austerity of early German art. Companion piece (624) at opposite corner.

Now proceed to the next wall.

539. Fine portraits of a donor and his wife, with their patron saints, Peter and Paul. The tops of both have been sawn off.

549 and 643. Two Madonnas. Not very important.

545. Between them, **unknown German Master (Lafenestre says, Flemish). Panel with Our Lady and Virgin Saints, what is called a “Paradise Picture,” apparently painted for a church or nunnery in Cologne, and with the chief patronesses of the city churches or chapels grouped around in adoration. Our Lady, with her typical German features, sits in front, in a robe of blue, before a crimson damask curtain upheld by angels. Her face is sweetly and insipidly charming. She holds a regal court among her ladies. In front of her kneels the Magdalen, with her long hair and pot of ointment. To the L., St. Catherine of Alexandria, crowned as princess, and with her wheel embroidered in pearls on her red robe as a symbol. The Infant Christ places the ring on her finger. Further L., St. Cecilia with a bell, substituted in northern art (where the chimes in the belfry were so important) for the organ which she holds in Italy. Then, St. Lucy, with her eyes in a dish, and St. Apollonia, holding her tooth in a pair of pincers. In front of these two, in a richly brocaded dress, and beautiful crown, St. Ursula, the great martyr of Cologne, with the arrows of her martyrdom lying at her feet. To Our Lady’s right, St. Barbara, in a purple robe trimmed with ermine and embroidered with her tower (of three windows), offers a rose to the Infant. Her necklet is of towers. As usual in northern art, she balances St. Catherine. Beside her kneels St. Agnes, in red, with her lamb, and her ruby ring: beyond whom are St. Helena with the cross (wearing a simple Roman circlet), St. Agatha, holding her own severed breast in the pincers, and St. Cunera with the cradle and arrow, one of the martyred companions of St. Ursula. In the background, the True Vine on a trellis, the garden of roses (“is my sister, my spouse”), and a landscape of the Rhine, in which St. George kills the dragon. This is a particularly fine composition of the old German School.

65 and 66. **Dierick Bouts: Two companion panels, life-size figures, known as the Justice of the Emperor Otho, and painted for the Council-Room of the Hôtel-de-Ville at Louvain, as a warning to evil-doers, perjurers, or unjust magistrates. (Compare the Gerard David of the Flaying of Sisamnes in the Academy at Bruges.) It is first necessary to understand the story. During the absence of the Emperor Otho in Italy (according to tradition), his empress made advances to a gentleman of the court, who rejected her offers. Piqued by this rebuff, the empress denounced him to Otho on his return as having attempted to betray her honour. Otho, without further testimony, had the nobleman beheaded. His widow appeared before the Emperor’s judgment-seat, bearing her husband’s head in her hands, and offered to prove his innocence by the ordeal of fire. She therefore held a red-hot iron in her hand unhurt. Otho, convinced of his wife’s treachery by this miraculous evidence, had the perjured empress burned alive. The first panel, to the R., represents the scene in two separate moments. Behind, the nobleman, in his shirt and with his hands tied, walks towards the place of execution, accompanied by his wife in a red dress and black hood, as well as by a Franciscan friar. In the foreground, the executioner (looking grimly stern) has just decapitated the victim, and is giving the head to the wife in a towel. The headless corpse lies on the ground before him. The neck originally spurted blood; flowers have been painted in to conceal this painful element. All round stand spectators, probably portraits of the Louvain magistrates, admirably rendered in Bouts’s dry and stiff but life-like manner. Behind them, within a walled garden belonging to a castle in the background, stand the Emperor with his sceptre and crown, and the faithless Empress. Good town and landscape to the L. The second panel, to the L., separated from this by a large triptych, represents the nobleman’s wife appearing before the enthroned Otho. In her right hand she holds her husband’s head; with her left she grasps the red-hot iron, unmoved. The brazier of charcoal in which it has been heated stands on the parti-coloured marble floor in the foreground. Around are several portraits of courtiers. Behind is represented the scene of the empress burning, which closes the episode. I need not call attention to the admirable painting of the fur, the green coat, Otho’s flowered red robe, the dog, the throne, and all the other accessories. This is considered Dierick Bouts’s masterpiece. (Go later to Louvain to complete your idea of him.)

Between these two pictures are arranged five of the finest works in the collection.

292 and 293. Memling: **Portraits of William Moreel (or Morelli), Burgomaster of Bruges, and his wife Barbara, the same persons (Savoyards) who are represented in the St. Christopher triptych in the Academy at Bruges. Their daughter is the Sibyl Sambetha of the St. John’s Hospital. Both portraits, but especially the Burgomaster’s, are good, hard, dry pictures.

515. Memling: **Triptych: perhaps painted in Italy (if I permitted myself an opinion, I would say, doubtfully by Memling). At any rate, it is for the Sforza family of Milan. Central panel, the Crucifixion, with Our Lady and St. John. Beautiful background of a fanciful Jerusalem. Sun and moon darkened. In the foreground kneel Francesco Sforza in armour, his wife Bianca Visconti, and his son Galeazzo-Maria. Behind the duke, his coat of arms. Left panel: the Nativity. In the foreground St. Francis with the Stigmata, as patron saint of Francesco, and St. Bavon with his falcon. Right panel: St. John the Baptist, as patron saint of Giovanni Galeazzo. Below, St. Catherine with her sword and wheel, and St. Barbara with her tower, two charming figures. I do not know the reason of their introduction, but they are common pendants of one another in northern art. You can get an attendant to unfasten the outer wings of the triptych for you, but they are not important. They contain, in grisaille, L., St. Jerome and the lion; R., St. George and the dragon. (The presence of St. Bavon in this enigmatic picture leads me to suppose it was painted for a church at Ghent. But what were the Sforza family doing there? Perhaps it has reference to some local business of the Sforzas in Flanders.)

190. **Roger van der Weyden: Portrait of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, wearing the Golden Fleece. An excellent and characteristic piece of workmanship. The arrow has a meaning: it is the symbol of St. Sebastian, to whom (as plague-saint) Charles made a vow in illness, and whom ever after he specially reverenced.

294. Memling: **Portrait of an unknown man, which may be contrasted for its comparative softness of execution with the harder work of his master beside it. Above these:—

211. Triptych, by Heemskerck (early Dutch School), representing, Centre, the Entombment, Christ borne, as usual, by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. In front, the crown of thorns. Behind, the Magdalen; then the Madonna and St. John, the two Maries, and an unknown man holding a vase of ointment. L. and R. the donor and his wife, with their patron saints Peter and Mary Magdalen (keys, box of ointment).

542. *Dierick Bouts of Louvain: The Last Supper. A fine and characteristic example of the town painter of Louvain. The faces are those of peasants or small bourgeois. To the right are the donors, entering as spectators: their faces are excellent. Judas sits in front of the table. The Christ is insipid. Note the admirable work of the pavement and background. The servant is a good feature. If you have Conway with you, compare this picture with the engraving of the very similar one by Bouts at Louvain, (p. 277:) only, the architecture there is Gothic, here Renaissance.

139. *Descent from the Cross (Van der Weyden or his school). Notice the white sheet on which the body is laid, as later in the great Rubens. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea support the body, St. John and one of the Maries holds the fainting Madonna. Left, the Magdalen, with her long hair. By her feet, her box of ointment. Close beside it, the nails, hammer and pincers. (M. Lafenestre, following Bode, attributes this picture to Petrus Christus, but with a query.)

29. Pleasing transitional Madonna, School of Van Orley, somewhat Italian in feeling, in a pretty arcade, with nice landscape background.

Above these, 109, a triptych, by Coninxloo. Centre, Family of St. Anne. Interesting for comparison with the great Quentin Matsys in the centre of the room. L., Joachim’s offering rejected in the Temple (small episodes behind). R., the death of St. Anne. Come back to the central panel after you have viewed the Quentin Matsys. (The component personages are explained there.)

543. Tolerable triptych, Flemish school, representing the events of the Infancy. Centre, Adoration of the Shepherds, with the usual conventional features (ruined temple, shed, ox and ass, etc.), and St. Joseph holding his candle, as often, to indicate night time. Left, Annunciation, with the usual position of the angel reversed. Otherwise, the portico and other features persist. Compare the great Van Eyck at Ghent, from which some elements here are borrowed. Right, the Circumcision. Symbolical figure of Moses on altar, full of the symbolism of Van der Weyden’s school. (Outer shutters, uninteresting, SS. Catharine and Barbara.)

585. Above it, good family group of a donor and his sons, with St. George; and his wife and daughters, with St. Barbara. (The crucifixes mark monks and nuns.)

At the corner, 624, German school. St. Mary Magdalen and St. Thomas, on gold background. Companion piece to 624. At opposite end.

626. School of Martin Schongauer: Christ and the Magdalen in the house of the Pharisee. Very contorted. Compare with the Gossart.

Above it, 106, Flemish school. Mass of St. Gregory, with the Crucified Christ appearing on the altar. (Recall the Pourbus at Bruges.) A most unpleasant picture. Behind, are the elements of the Passion. L., the donors; R., Souls in Purgatory, relieved by masses. Many minor episodes occupy the area.

On either side of it, *27, 28, beautiful soft-toned German portraits (? by Beham) of two children, Maximilian II. and his sister Anne of Austria.

563. Lombard: Unimportant picture, meaninglessly described as Human Misfortunes. It seems to commemorate an escape from shipwreck and from plagues by the same person. L. panel: A ship sinking; a man saved on the shore. In the background, under divine direction of an angel, he finds his lost gold in a fish’s body. R. panel, He lies ill of plague, while above is seen the miracle of St. Gregory and the Angel of the Plague (Michael) sheathing his sword on the Castle of St. Angelo.

540. Virgin and Child. Attributed without much certainty to Petrus Christus.

535. Good unknown Flemish picture of the *Assumption of Our Lady (closely resembling No. 534, which see again). The empty tomb stands in the midst, with lilies; around, St. Peter and St. James, and the other apostles; above, Our Lady ascending, borne by a duplicated figure of Christ (one standing for the Holy Ghost), in an almond-shaped glory. R., Her Funeral, with St. Peter wearing the triple crown; L., St. Thomas receiving the girdle from an angel. Compare with 534, which Lafenestre judges to be the work of a different artist.

567. Good portrait attributed to Bernard Van Orley.

596. Six panels: Flemish School. Ornate, but not interesting. (1) The Lord creating Eve; in the background the Temptation. (2) Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac; in the background in three successive scenes, Abraham’s Sacrifice. (3) Noah and his Family with the Ark. (4) Esau asks the Blessing of Isaac. (5) Meeting of Jacob and Esau. Note the grotesquely urban conception of the Semitic nomads. (6) The Nativity.

559. Attributed to Van Orley. Pietà, with the usual group, and family of donors. Interesting as a work of transition.

Above it, 580. Triptych, with Descent from the Cross, Flemish school. Usual figures; identify them. On the wings, L., Agony in the Garden, Kiss of Judas, Peter and Malchus: R., The Resurrection. Noli Me Tangere, Disciples at Emmaus, etc.

107. P. Coecke, 16th century: A Last Supper. Only interesting as showing transition. Compare with Dierick Bouts.

Above it, 300. Patinier: Dead Christ on the knees of the Virgin (Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows), painfully emaciated. A sword pierces Our Lady’s breast (and will recur often). Around it, the rest of the Seven Sorrows. Note the landscape, characteristic of the painter.

12. (Old number; no new number.) Coninxloo: Joachim and Anna, with the rejected offering. From them, a genealogical tree bears the Madonna and Child. L. and R., the Angel appearing to Joachim, and Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate. (Read up the legend.) Curious architectural setting.

301. Good portrait by an unknown (transitional) Fleming (Van Orley?), probably of a lawyer; the charters seem to indicate a secretary of Maximilian and Charles V.

The place of honour in the centre of the room is occupied by 299, a magnificent **triptych by Quentin Matsys, one of the noblest works of the transitional school, strangely luminous, with very characteristic and curious colouring. It represents the favourite Flemish subject of the Family of St. Anne. (It was painted for the Confraternity of St. Anne at Louvain, and stood as an altar-piece in the church of St. Pierre.) Central panel: An arcade, in the middle arch of which appears St. Anne, in red and purple (throughout), offering grapes to the Divine Child, who holds a bullfinch, and is seated on the lap of Our Lady. R., Mary Salome, with her two sons James and John. L., Mary Cleophas, with her sons James the Less, Simon, Thaddæus, and Joseph the Just. Behind the parapet, beside St. Anne, her husband Joachim; and beside Mary Salome, her husband Zebedee. Beside Our Lady, her husband Joseph; beside Mary Cleophas, her husband Alphæus. Beautiful blue mountain landscape. L. panel: The angel appearing to Joachim, in a magnificent blue landscape. Joachim’s dress is constant. The angel’s robe is most delicious in colour. R. panel: The Death of St. Anne, with Our Lady and the other Maries in attendance. Behind, their husbands. The young Christ gives the benediction.

Now, go round to the back of the picture, to observe the outer wings. L., St. Joachim driven from the Temple by the High Priest R. (chronologically the first), Joachim and Anna (much younger), making their offerings (on marriage) to the High Priest in the Temple. (Same High Priest, younger; same dresses.) The portrait behind recalls the earlier Flemish manner; otherwise, the work is full of incipient transition to the Renaissance. Little episode of Joachim and Anna distributing alms in the background. (When the triptych is closed, this wing comes in its proper place as first of the series.)

191. Jan van Eyck: (attribution doubtful; probably a later artist, perhaps Gerard David): The Adoration of the Magi. Another good example of this favourite Flemish subject. In the foreground, the Madonna and Child: one of Van Eyck’s most pleasing faces (if his). Then, the Old King, kneeling; the Middle-aged King, half-kneeling; and the Young King, a Moor, with his gift, behind. (The Old King in such pictures has almost always deposited his gift.) In the background, Joseph, and the retinue of the Magi. Ruined temple, shed, ox, ass, etc., as usual.

291. Dierick Bouts: *Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. Characteristic peasant face; admirable cloak and background.

Now go into the next hall, marked

Room II.

on the plan. This contains mainly German and Flemish pictures of the transition.

Right of the door, 338. Very Raphaelesque Holy Family by Bernard Van Orley, showing in the highest degree the Italian influence on this originally quite Flemish painter.

Above it, 92 and 92A. Portraits of the Micaul family.

105. J. Joest: St. Anne enthroned, Joseph, Our Lady, the Infant. Early transitional.

193. Jean Gossaert, Adam and Eve. Good later Flemish nude.

50. J. Bosch: Appalling Flemish Temptation of St. Anthony, with perhaps the silliest and most grotesquely repulsive devils ever painted.

2. Aertsen: *The Dutch Cook. A famous picture, showing well the earlier stages of Dutch genre development.

217. Van Hemessen: Genre piece, absurdly given the name of The Prodigal Son, by a sort of prescription, but really a Flemish tavern scene of the sort which afterwards appealed to Dutch artists. A characteristic work: transitional, but with good humorous faces, especially to the right. Painters still thought all pictures must pretend to be sacred.

591. German Adoration of the Magi. A fragment only.

603. Herri met de Bles: The Temptation of St. Anthony. Figures and landscape show Italian influence.

336. Transitional Adoration of the Shepherds. Observe the growing Renaissance feeling and Italian influence.

247, 248. Excellent portraits by Adrien Key.

41. Lancelot Blondeel: St. Peter enthroned as Pope: in one of his usual extravagant architectural frameworks. In circles above, his Imprisonment and Crucifixion.

Close by, unnumbered, two excellent portraits.

81. P. Brueghel the Younger: absurdly called The Census at Bethlehem. In reality a Flemish winter scene.

318. Sir Anthony More: *Portrait of the Duke of Alva, with the firm lips and cruel eyes of the ruthless Spaniard. One understands him.

359. Good portrait by Pourbus of a plump and well-fed Flemish gentleman.

80. P. Brueghel the Younger: Described as the Massacre of the Innocents. Flemish winter. The beginning of genre painting.

Most of the pictures skied above these are of some interest for comparison with earlier examples of the same subjects.

565. Unknown French portrait of Edward VI. of England. Hard and dry and of little artistic value.