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for the Duke ;1 but, in 1398, he produced those shrines which still remain as records of his skill. When the monasteries were suppressed in France, pictures and valuables were carefully removed, and these, amongst the rest, were carried to a place of safety in the cathedral of Dijon. They have been since taken to their present place in the museum. They afford a curious instance of the changes which the arts had undergone between the time when La Biloque was painted, and the fourteenth century. Sculpture, architecture, and painting were here commingled. The central portions of the shrines were sculptured subjects, enclosed in Gothic tabernacles. The wings contained the stark and lengthy figures of holy men in pointed niches; and on the outer side were painted scripture subjects in distemper. One of these shrines has suffered much from time which acted on the gesso and swept away all trace of painting. Fortunately, the pictures of the second are preserved. The central portion

1386. ... pour -Comptes de Jacques

1 "A. Melchior Broedlain, pointre MS. plusieurs estoffes à lui commandées.” Sereyhem, 1385-6. Recette de Flandres. De Lab. ut sup., vol. i. p. 6. "A. Melchior Broederlain, paintre, à Claux, le tamburier et ménestrier de MS." XL 1.-Ibid. p. 9. 1387.

"A. Melchior Broederlain."...-Comptes Pierre Adorne. 1393-4. Ibid. p. 11.

"A. Melchior Broederlain, varlet de chambre et paintre de MS. le Duc de Bourgogne, Comte de Flandres, auquel Mds. a fait paier et délivrer la somme de IIIIIII fr. et IIII sols. parisis, monnoie de France p. les parties cy après déclairées, lesquelles il avait p. commad'. et ordonnance de Mds. faites et délivrées au S. de Dicquemmes, pour partir ou voiage de Frize. . . et p. faire deux estandarts de satin, de bateure de fin or, à oille de la dévise de Mds. de Bourgogne.-Tiers compte Pierre Adorne. Féb. MCCCIIII** XV au derrain jour de Janv. MCCCIIII**XVI. De Lab. ut sup., vol. i. p. 11.

of this altar-piece is eight feet long, and five feet and ahalf high. The sculptured subjects are the Calvary, with no less than twenty figures; the Adoration of the Magi with nine, and the Burial with eight. These, together with the saints in Gothic niches at the sides, are coloured according to the oldest fashion, and exhibit a fair amount of attainments in the author. The carver is Jacques de la Baerse, sculptor of Dendermonde, who laboured in 1391.1 The painting of the sculptures, as well as the pictures on the wings, were first entrusted to Malouel, who was then at Dijon; but his work being considered unsatisfactory, Melchior Broederlain undertook the task, depicting on the wings the Angel appearing to Mary, the Salutation, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Flight into Egypt, and, above them, God the Father, with the triple crown and angels near him.

The style and manner of these pictures lead us to consider what may have been the teaching and the sentiment which cast their impress on this early painter.

Of surrounding schools, none, in proximity to Flanders, were likely to exercise a greater influence in the fourteenth century than those of the Rhine. That of Cologne seems, from what relics we possess of it, to have been animated by a religious sentiment calculated to ennoble its cultivators. A certain ideal also seemed to guide its artists in their pursuits. Penetrated with similar ideas, the Flemings might, under similar circumstances, have risen to a sweet and dignified conception of nature; and

J Comptes d'Annot Arnaut. Arch. de Dijon.-Plusieurs mémoires tirés de la chambre des comptes de Dijon et des Arch. de la Chartreuse. 2 vol. 4°. ap. De Laborde, vol. i. Introd. p. lxxiii.

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THE ANNUNCIATION.

THE VISITATION.

THE PRESENTATION.

Altar-piece by Melchior Ercederlan, in the Museum of Dyon.

THE ETERNAL.

ST. ELIZABETH

From the Altar-piece by Melchior Broe lerlain, in the Muscum of Dijon.

1 age 16

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