in habits, they combined some German sentiment with French
liveliness and gayety. The solidarity of the nation was not
accomplished until after 1385, when the Dukes of Burgundy began to
extend their power over the Low Countries. Then the Flemish people
became strong enough to defy both Germany and France, and wealthy
enough, through their commerce with Spain, Italy, and France to
encourage art not only at the Ducal court but in the churches, and
among the citizens of the various towns.

[Illustration: FIG. 74.--VAN EYCKS. ST. BAVON ALTAR-PIECE (WING).
BERLIN.]

FLEMISH SUBJECTS AND METHODS: As in all the countries of Europe, the
early Flemish painting pictured Christian subjects primarily. The
great bulk of it was church altar-pieces, though side by side with
this was an admirable portraiture, some knowledge of landscape, and
some exposition of allegorical subjects. In means and methods it was
quite original. The early history is lost, but if Flemish painting was
beholden to the painting of any other nation, it was to the miniature
painting of France. There is, however, no positive record of this. The
Flemings seem to have begun by themselves, and pictured the life about
them in their own way. They were apparently not influenced at first by
Italy. There were no antique influences, no excavated marbles to copy,
no Byzantine traditions left to follow. At first their art was exact
and minute in detail, but not well grasped in the mass. The
compositions were huddled, the landscapes pure but finical, the
figures inclined to slimness, awkwardness, and angularity in the lines
of form or drapery, and uncertain in action. To offset this there was
a positive realism in textures, perspective, color, tone, light, and
atmosphere. The effect of the whole was odd and strained, but the
effect of the part was to convince one that the Flemish painters were
excellent craftsmen in detail, skilled with the brush, and shrewd
observers of nature in a purely picturesque way.

To the Flemish painters of the fifteenth century belongs, not the
invention of oil-painting, for it was known before their time, but its
acceptable application in picture-making. They applied oil with color
to produce brilliancy and warmth of effect, to insure firmness and
body in the work, and to carry out textural effects in stuffs,
marbles, metals, and the like. So far as we know there never was much
use of distemper, or fresco-work upon the walls of buildings. The