of the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. The main points,
however, to be borne in mind is that whereas Cimabue and Duccio started
painting on walls under the influence of Byzantine teachers, Hubert van
Eyck, a century later, began painting on wooden panels under that of
illuminators and painters in books.

To these, nevertheless, there must be added another scarcely less
important, namely, that the early Italians were ignorant of the use of
what we now call oil paints, and worked entirely in tempera--that is to
say, there was no admixture of oil or varnish with their pigments. To
Hubert van Eyck is attributed the invention of the modern practice, as
Vasari relates with more colour than historic truth in his life of
Antonello da Messina, who is supposed to have carried it into Italy. Be
that as it may, the works of the van Eycks and their successors are all
in oils, and there is no doubt that the employment of this medium from
the first considerably influenced the style, colour, and execution of
all the works of this school.

HUBERT VAN EYCK who according to the common acceptation was born in the
year 1366 at Maaseyck, a small town not far from Maestricht, must have
been settled before the year 1412 in Bruges, when we hear of him as a
member of the Brotherhood of the Virgin with Rays.

There can be little doubt that Hubert van Eyck was acquainted with the
work of this John of Bruges, and that it had a considerable influence on
him. But while on the one hand he carried the realistic tendencies of
such works to an extraordinary pitch of excellence, it is evident that
in many essential respects he was actuated by a more ideal feeling and
imparted to the realism of his contemporaries, by means of his far
richer powers of representation, greater distinctness, truth to nature,
and variety of expression. Throughout his works is seen an elevated and
highly energetic conception of the stern import of his labours in the
service of the Church.

The prevailing arrangement of his subjects is symmetrical, holding fast
to the earliest rules of ecclesiastical art. His heads appear to aim at
an ideal beauty and dignity only combined with actual truth to nature.
His draperies exhibit the purest taste and softness of folds, the
realistic principle being apparent in that greater attention to detail
which a delicate indication of the material of the drapery necessitates.
Nude figures are studied from nature with the utmost fidelity; u