Pazzi in San Giuliano at Venice; and a portrait of a "Venetian gentleman," signed by the author, dated 1478, -first in the possession of the patrician family of Vidman, and later, in 1771, in the Gallery of Bartolommeo Vitturi, at Venice. There is likewise no trace of "the Virgin,” which Ridolfi described as in the Contarini Palace, afterwards carried by one Van Veerle to Antwerp; the "Dead Saviour and the three Marys," painted, according to Boschini, for the Brotherhood of the Holy Trinity in Venice; the "Virgin with a book before her," in the house of the Baron Ottavio Tassi in the same city.2

The influence of Antonello on the style of Domenico Veniziano is difficult to trace, on account of the loss of the paintings in Santa Maria Nuova at Florence, which renders it impossible to test the accuracy of Vasari as to their being painted in oil. The pictures of Domenico. remaining to us as examples of his manner, not only prove to have been painted à tempera, but exhibit a truly Italian manner. Strangely enough, however, the traces

of Flemish art are visible in the works of Andrea dal Castagno. We find in him a sentiment of pride akin to that severity which gave solemnity to the figures of the Agnus Dei of St. Bavon,-a hardness of outline, and an overcharging of distances, which are less characteristic of the Italians than the Flemings. Some have also thought they saw a similar influence in the style of the brothers Pollaiolo; but, if it really existed, it showed itself, in a secondary manner, in the number of jewelled ornaments

1 Zanetti, p. 21.

2 There is here coincidence of subject with the picture, No. 94 of the Venice Academy.

with which they filled their vestments. It must be borne in mind, however, that the Pollaioli might derive this failing from their first apprenticeship as orafi, or chisellers of gold and silver,—an art in which almost all the great Florentine masters of that time were also educated. In the secondary parts of pictures, the Flemish influence is likewise to be distinguished in the works of second-rate painters of the schools of Florence and of Lombardy, who imitated Memling and Van der Weyden; one of whom is Ambrogio Borgognone,-a cold and lifeless copyist, of whom a picture in the Berlin Museum may be mentioned as an example.

CHAPTER XII.

COTEMPORARIES OF THE VAN EYCKS.

WHEN John Van Eyck became "varlet de chambre” of Philip of Burgundy, a change was made in the functions of the ducal painters ; and whilst the arts were honoured in his person by increased respect and pay, the common labour of the ducal court,—such as painting standards, pennons, and banners, -was entrusted to a lower class of men. When Jehan Malouel had ceased to live, in 1415, his place was filled by Bellechose of Brabant.1 Bellechose, however, was employed exclusively in Burgundy, and is only known to have painted for the convent of Carthusians at Dijon two altar-pieces, representing scenes from the lives of St. Denis and the Virgin.2

In Flanders, Jehan le Voleur was Jehan Malouel's colleague as "paintre" and "varlet de chambre," and filled a post of honour in the pleasure castle of the Duke at Hesdin. Jehan le Voleur's skill consisted only in manufacturing standards, banners, and pennons. At his death, in 1417, he was succeeded in the place of governor of Hesdin by Hue de Boulogne. Colin, or Colart le Voleur, the son of Jehan, obtained employment for many years

1 "Bellechose (Henry) de Brabant, paintre de M. S. le Duc aux gages de huit gros par jour, par lettres datées du 5 Avril, 1419."De Salles, Mémoires p. servir, ut sup., p. 242.

2 Mémoriaux-"C'est le livre des mémoires de la chambre des Comptes."—Apud De Laborde, Les Ducs de Bourgogne, vol. i. Introd.

in the same capacity as his father. The castle, or chastel d'Hesdin, was a favourite resort of Philip of Burgundy, and a place of rest to which he retired to amuse himself at his leisure. It contrasted strangely with the pleasure palace of Louis the Eleventh near Tours, where the grounds were known to bristle with various deadly instruments intended to maim trespassers. Hesdin was as full of pitfalls and trap-doors as a modern theatre; but they only served to perpetrate the coarse though harmless jokes, in which the fun of the Middle Ages consisted. They seem, indeed, to have only suited the robust and healthy constitutions of the people of those days. A few examples, taken from the records of the castle, may not be uninteresting. A stranger issuing, for instance, from a gallery into a neighbouring passage, was startled by the sudden apparition of a wooden figure spouting water. A wetting and a fright were the necessary consequences. But when the joke was carried furthest, a set of brushes were put in motion, and the patient emerged with a white or a black face, as the case might be. Another still more powerful engine was one which seized a man and thrashed him soundly.

In the centre of the great gallery was a trap, and near it the figure of a hermit who prophesied. Ladies were his most frequent victims. They no sooner felt an interest in the telling of their fortune than the ceiling opened and poured forth rain; thunder-claps followed in quick succession, preceded by appropriate lightning; and, as the air grew colder, snow fell. Taking refuge from the storm, the patient entered a dangerous shelter above a pitfall leading into a sack of feathers, from which escape at last was permitted.

The castle of Hesdin was full of tricks of this description. Besides the pitfalls just described, there was in the great gallery a bridge which dropped saunterers into the water. In various places there were engines which spouted water when they were touched. Six figures stood in the hall spouting water, and wetting people in various ways. At the entrance of a gallery were eight water-jets rushing upwards, which wetted people passing, and three small pipes were so fixed close by as to cover them with flour. If the panic-stricken victims rushed up to a window and opened it, up came a figure wetting them, and closing the frame. If a splendid missal on a desk caught a curious eye, the person who went up to it was either covered with soot or dirt. A mirror close at hand betrayed the trick; but whilst the victim wondered at the blackness of his face, out rushed a flour-dredger that made him white.

The most elaborate of all these tricks was one combining almost every species of deception. A figure of a man was made to start in the great gallery, frightening people by talking or crying. At the noise, the loungers in other rooms rushed in, upon which a number of figures, armed with sticks, came forth, driving every one pellmell to the bridge, where they fell, of course, into the

water.

Such were the rude and practical pastimes of our regal forefathers of the fifteenth century.

Colart le Voleur was the author of all these mechanical jokes, for which the Duke requited him with a sum of a thousand livres. He, together with Hue de Boulogne, however, was generally employed in painting banners and pen

nons.

The name of Colart le Voleur disappears from the