In the first place, Jan's handiwork must be identified. In the pictures already discussed it has been proved fairly conclusively that Jan is responsible for the painting of the exotic plants, the snow-mountains, the flock of wild geese, and the architectural setting. The landscapes in the Ghent altar-piece contain exotic {43} plants, wild geese, and snow-mountains. Of the latter it is difficult to speak; they are whitish in colour, but their formation is neither so natural nor so well designed as in the _Three Marys_. The exotic plants alone prove Jan's work here. The birds may, or may not, be very important. They serve, however, by their repeated appearance in Jan's other pictures, as auxiliary evidence. The question for proof, however, is not the presence of Jan's work on this picture, but the presence of his work before the death of his brother. And from this point of view it is significant that, though other exotics are present in profusion, the palmetto--a sure result of Jan's visit to Portugal--does not appear. The whole work is stated in the inscription to have been finished on May 6, 1432, two years after Jan's return from Portugal. Now, the absence of the palmetto from this picture points to one of two conclusions--either the work left for Jan to do in the completion was comparatively trifling, or that the greater part of the picture, including the design of the landscapes, was already finished before Jan met with the palmetto. That the work of the younger brother was not insignificant is distinctly stated in the text {44} of the inscription: "The painter, Hubert van Eyck, greater than whom none is to be found, began [the work]; the bulk was completed by his brother Jan, second to him in art, relying on the request of Jodoc Vydt. This verse invites you to contemplate that which was completed on May 6, 1432." This translation from the Latin is chosen from three versions. The other renderings seem to be given by those who would translate the word _pondus_ as _work_, and thus give the younger brother credit for no more than finishing an incomplete picture. The text has, however, been translated by several learned scholars, who are entirely free from the taint of partisanship, and it is now generally agreed that the translation given here is the correct one. There is yet another possibility which the absence of the palmetto points to--namely, that the picture was practically finished before Jan's visit to Portugal, save some very minor details, which were completed in 1432, The presence of the other exotics points to this view being correct, for it would obviously be unlikely that Jan should omit the palmetto from all these five landscapes after his careful studies of his favourite plant. The other exotics, not being {45} a result of the journey, may very well have been painted before 1429. Collaboration in this work is further proved by the portraits of the two brothers. {46} OUR ILLUSTRATIONS