In the carvings of these later altar-screens and tombs a new influence will be traced; for, in the last third of the fifteenth century, what may truly be termed a revolution in style took place in Spanish sculpture. A stronger realistic tendency, with a more marked individuality in the portraits, will be seen. The characteristic features are more emphasised, the gestures more free and more individual. Waved lines give place to broken ones, rounded surfaces to sharp-edged ones. This heightened vitality was due not only to a greater mastery of the technical part of sculpture by the native artists, but to a newly imported art inspiration, which now began to mingle with, and even to replace, the influences of France and Burgundy. Up till about 1400 Spain was loyal to France, and kept her artists as her teachers and advisers. Afterwards Burgundy displaced France, and we have the far-reaching influence of the great ecclesiastical orders. Now followed the rule of the Netherlands and of Germany. In the fifteenth century Spain was brought into close connection with the Low Countries. The intermarrying of the royal houses of Burgundy and Hapsburg united the Northern countries first with Portugal, and afterwards with Spain. The result of this union was a great advancement in Spain’s art. The first of the Northerners to come to Spain were painters, and we have the visit of Jan van Eyck, in 1428, with its far-reaching consequences to Spanish painting; then followed architects and sculptors. A Flemish painter was adopted by the Count of Aragon about 1440; and the Cartuja of Miraflores has a small altar-screen of which the wings were painted by him. The archives of Toledo mention a great number of Flemish artists of renown, who settled and worked in the city, among whom were Juan and Bernardino of Brussels, whose names are often mentioned by Cean Bermudez, and the four brothers Egas from Eycken, one of whom, Anequin, was appointed architect of the cathedral by the chapter, and directed the work of the sculptures of the Gate of the Lions, being assisted by Fernandez de Liena and Juan Givas, also an architect of the cathedral. Then we know that at Burgos worked the Colonia family, Juan, Simeon, and Francisco, who carved the woodwork of the cathedral and that of the Cartuja of Miraflores. There were also Northern artists in Seville. Mateo and Nicolas were skilful goldsmiths, and Cristobal--all of whom probably came from Germany--was a painter on glass. Juan Aleman, in 1512, finished the choir-stalls of the cathedral, George Fernandez Aleman carved the retablo, while another artist of the same name, Rodrigo Aleman, sculptured the wainscoting of Palencia Cathedral, whose invention and humour, Professor Carl Justi says, recall the South German masters.