Virgin is fainting in the arms of St. John and two women. Beyond is seen St. Barbara with her symbolthe tower. On the left are four figures, one of which, wearing the dalmatica,' points to the Saviour, with these words engraved on a gold ground, Veri Dei filius iste. In the distance St. Catherine, holding in one hand her wheel, in the other a sword, tramples under her feet the figure of a king. This picture, once in the possession of the Corporation of Tanners at Bruges, and presented to the cathedral of Bruges by one of the marguilliers, or care-takers, Mr. I. J. Vermeiren Van Damme, bears a strong resemblance to the works of the Cologne school of the fourteenth century. The figure of the Saviour is lank and meagre-faulty in the hands and feet-and generally, indeed, in details; yet, after contemplating it for a time, we are struck with a certain truthfulness, interesting when we consider the period. The female figures are not wanting in expression, elegance, and simplicity of attitude; the drapery, particularly that of the Madonnah, is good. But the male figures are inferior; they are short and thickset, and that of the centurion is truly trivial in conception. The clear pale tone of the flesh tints are deficient in transparency and chiaro-'scuro; the outlines are not well defined-defects characteristic of the school of Westphalia. On the other hand, the broad and powerful colours of the garments mark the Flemish school. The museum at Valencia contains a small panel, which bears some resemblance in manner to those of Broederlain. 1 The dalmatica is a vestment worn by deacons and sub-deacons of the Roman Catholic faith. It certainly belongs to the same school, and is equally remarkable for the simplicity of its draperies, and for the contrasts already remarked between the picture of Dijon and that of Bruges-between the broad and powerful colours of the garments, and the clear pale tones of the flesh tints. It represents Christ's dead body seated on a tomb, supported by an angel, with various figures kneeling round him; on the right a woman and two girls, on the left a man and two boys, evidently members of one family. The library at Berlin also contains some small compositions on wood, which seem to have been studies for pictures rather than finished productions, but which are quite in the style of Broederlain.1 If we turn from viewing these pictures as productions of art, and examine them more particularly with reference to the means by which they were produced, we shall discover much that is extremely worthy of remark, and much that throws a light upon the introduction of oil in the production of pictures. The documentary evidence which fills the preceding pages proves how frequent was the use of oil in painting sculptures and banners. We now come to a point where oil-colours are used in the minor or less important portions of pictures, of which the chief parts were completed in distemper. But before proceeding, it may be necessary to compare for a few moments the early paintings of the Flemish with those of other schools, in order to see whether, in the practice of tempera painting itself, there may not 1 See Entwürfe und Studien eins Niederlandischen Meisters aus den XV, Yahrhundert, &c. Berlin, 1830. Humblot. Drucke, des Konie. Acade, der Wissenchaften. have been causes which led the former to feel the neces→ sity of improving the modes most commonly in use. It is clear that clime has had great influence in all countries on the progress of art, and that the means employed in warm countries will be found unsuitable for the more variable atmosphere of those in a colder latitude. The painters of the Netherlands, perhaps, from the first felt the necessity of turning their attention to the means of preserving their paintings from the effects of climate, and rendering their colours and varnishes more durable. The Flemings may have found, also at an early period, that they could not with impunity leave pictures exposed to the air, and have felt, at the same time, that the medium employed by the Italians for the preservation of paintings so exposed must be insufficient in a damper atmosphere. Van Mander says that “painting with glue and egg was first brought to the Netherlands from Italy." The Flemings cannot but have been aware that in the practice of tempera the Italians themselves differed essentially, according to the degree of warmth of the climate in which they lived. The glutinous or drying matters, such as glue and egg, were used in greater or smaller quantities as vehicle-they were rendered less drying by the use of honey, or of the milky juice of the fig-tree,' diluted to a less viscous consistency by vinegar, beer, and wine, according to necessity. All these materials were known to the tempera painters of every clime, and used as the case required or necessity compelled them. In colouring 1 V. Mander. Schilderbock, 4to. Haerlem, 1604, p. 199. miniatures on parchment or paper, the painters, who knew the care with which such productions were treasured, did not expend much time in rendering the tints impervious to the effects of the atmosphere. They covered the water-colour simply with a coat of varnish—una mano di colla; and miniatures thus treated remained for ages without alteration in central Italy, where the warmth of the climate enabled the greatest painters to execute, in the open air, the most colossal paintings on the walls and in the cloisters of churches, and in the Campo Santi. But these simple means were insufficient in the north of Italy. The painters of the school of Padua, such as Squarcione, Mantegna, and their followers, painted mural pictures in exposed places; but they did not last, and in many spots where they were executed they speedily perished. The same causes operated in Venice; and this partly explains how the painters of Northern Italy made. more frequent use of canvas than those of the south. Further, in the use of tempera they employed a mixture of colours more tenacious and more lasting than that of the men of central Italy. A careful examination of the works of such painters as Mantegna, Cosimo Tura, Marco Zoppo, Crivelli, and some of the Vivarini, will prove that their pictures were painted with a tempera of far less thickness or body, and on cloths of greater tenacity, than those of their more southern brethren. Of these facts the Flemings cannot but have been cognisant, and the necessity for increased attention to the durability of their materials must have been forced upon them with double power. They seldom appear to have attempted mural painting. Van Mander has noticed none, and few ves tiges of such works are preserved. The climate would scarcely permit of such productions; and the Flemings, bending their art to the necessities of the weather, substituted painting on canvas for that on walls. They laboured, too, with a tempera of little body, as the least likely to crackle and fall off; and they completed their pictures, as was usual with all the old masters, by glazing them with a coat of a coloured oleo resinous varnish, which served at once to give tone and vigour to the subject, and close the tempera against the contact of the outward air. The remarkable contrast which exists between the pale flesh tints of the picture of Dijon and the vigorous colours of the drapery, appears to have been produced by another peculiarity, not confined to the painters of the Netherlands, but which shows them acquainted with the greatest variety of modes of painting. It may be inferred that the more vigorous colouring noticeable in the draperies was produced by the use of oil in those portions of the picture; and an attentive examination of the panels of St. Sauveur at Bruges leads us to similar conclusions with regard to that picture. In all the subjects of these pictures the tempera employed is hard, and devoid of transparency, unlike that of the school of Cologne, which appears to receive its polish and clearness from the mixture of wax and honey; and also unlike that of Gentile da Fabriano, a painter who gave a softness and clearness to the tempera he employed which is not commonly found among his Italian cotemporaries. If any resemblance can be found between these tempera paintings and those of other schools, it is discoverable in the productions of Crivelli, Mantegna, and |