Cities of Belgium: Grant Allen's Historical GuidesAllen, Grant
History
Cities of Belgium: Grant Allen's Historical Guides
Allen, Grant
Belgium -- Guidebooks
177. Giotto: St. Nicolas of Myra with the three golden balls, protecting
a donor.
Above are three good portraits by Van Orley, and other works which need
no description.
On easels at the end, 255. =Attributed to Memling=: **Exquisite =Madonna
and Child= in a church. Our Lady, arrayed as Queen of Heaven, with a pot
of lilies before her, stands in the nave of a lovely early Gothic
cathedral, with a later Decorated apse, and admirable rood-screen. Every
detail of the tiles, the crown, the screen, and the robe, as well as Our
Lady’s hair and hands, should be closely looked into. This is one of the
loveliest pictures here. It is a very reduced copy from one by Jan van
Eyck at Berlin: the church is that of the Abbey of the Dunes near
Furnes. Its attribution to Memling has been disputed: Conway believes it
to be by a follower. In any case, it is lovely.
256. **Companion panel, of the donor, a Cistercian Abbot of the Dunes,
in a sumptuous room, half bed-chamber, half study, with a beautiful
fireplace and fire. He kneels at his prayers, having deposited his mitre
on a cushion beside him, and laid his crozier comfortably by the
fireplace. Creature comforts are not neglected on the side-board. Here
also every decorative detail should be closely examined. These are two
of the very finest works of the School of Memling. Probably the Abbot
admired Jan van Eyck’s Madonna, painted for a predecessor, and asked for
a copy, with himself in adoration on the other wing of the diptych.
At the back, on a revolving pivot,
530, 531. Christ blessing, and a Cistercian Canon in adoration. As
usual, the outer panels are less brilliant in colouring than the inner.
Notice the Alpha and Omega and the P. and F. (for Pater and Filius) on
the curtain behind the Saviour. These works are by an inferior hand.
The other easel has a fine (208, 209, 210) *Lucas van Leyden: Adoration
of the Magi, with fantastic elongated figures. Note the ruined temple.
The other features will now be familiar. Lucas’s treatment is peculiar.
_L._, St. George and the Dragon. The saint has broken his lance and
attacks the fearsome beast with his sword. In the background, the
Princess Cleodolind and landscape. _R._, The donor, in a rich furred
robe, and behind him, St. Margaret with her dragon. At the back, 181,
_wings_, by the same, with a peculiar Annunciation (the wings being
open, reversed in order). Between them has been unwisely inserted an
Ecce Homo by Gossaert.
Now, go straight through Rooms H, F, and E, to three rooms _en suite_,
the last of which is
ROOM A,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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