great
veneration, a picture painted by John van Eyck, after the death of
Hubert, representing the Virgin and Infant, with St. George, St.
Donatius, and other saints. It is dated 1436. John died in 1441.

According to Vasari, the fame of Masaccio drew Antonello da Messina to
Rome; from thence he proceeded to Naples, where he saw some oil
paintings by John van Eyck, which had been brought to Naples from
Flanders, by some Neapolitan merchants, and presented or sold to
Alphonso I., King of Naples. The novelty of the invention, and the
beauty of the coloring inspired Antonello with so strong a desire to
become possessed of the secret, that he went to Bruges, and so far
ingratiated himself into the favor of van Eyck, then advanced in years,
that he instructed him in the art. Antonello afterwards returned to
Venice, where he secretly practised the art for some time, communicating
it only to Domenico Veneziano, his favorite scholar. Veneziano settled
at Florence, where his works were greatly admired both on account of
their excellence and the novelty of the process. Here he unfortunately
formed a connexion with Andrea del Castagno, an eminent Tuscan painter,
who treacherously murdered Domenico, that he might become, as he
supposed, the sole possessor of the secret. Castagno artfully concealed
the atrocious deed till on his death-bed, when struck with remorse, he
confessed the crime for which innocent persons had suffered. Vasari also
says that Giovanni Bellini obtained the art surreptitiously from
Messina, by disguising himself and sitting for his portrait, thus
gaining an opportunity to observe his method of operating; but Lanzi has
shown that Messina made the method public on receiving a pension from
the Venetian Senate. Many writers have appeared, who deny the above
statement of Vasari; but Lanzi, who carefully investigated the whole
subject, finds no just reason to claim for his countrymen priority of
the invention, or to doubt the correctness of Vasari's statement in the
main. Those old paintings at Milan, Pisa, Naples, Vienna, and elsewhere,
have been carefully examined and proved to have been painted in
encaustic or distemper. This subject will be found fully discussed in
Spooner's Dictionary of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors, and Architects,
under the articles John and Hubert van Eyck, Antonello da Messina,
Domenico Veneziano, Andrea del Castagno, and Roger of Bruges.

FORESHORTENING.

Foreshortening is the art of