Jan's wife at the Bruges Museum. * * * * * [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF TIMOTHY. BY JAN VAN EYCK.] The portrait at the National Gallery which, from the name inscribed in Greek characters on the stone parapet that extends across the bottom of the panel, is known as the bust of Timothy, bears the date October 10, 1432, and is therefore the earliest of Jan's signed and dated pictures--always excepting the much-overpainted Chatsworth panel of 1421. It is not in quite so good a state of preservation as the other portrait of a man by Jan, in the same Gallery, which is dated 1433, but the face itself is in fairly good condition. The features are broad and massive, and inclined to heaviness; the eyes are somewhat deep-set, while the cheek-bones are prominent. His right hand holds a small roll of parchment with some writing upon it. On the parapet, beneath the Greek word "Tymotheos," is the inscription LEAL SOVVENIR, and the signature {59} "Factū año. D(m-macron). 1432. 10. die Octobris. a Joh. de Eyck." * * * * * The portrait known as _The Man with the Pinks_ at the Berlin Museum, is one of the most characteristic of Jan's portraits. It shows an elderly man in a dark grey coat with fur cuffs and collar and a broad-brimmed beaver hat. At the neck the brocade collar of a tunic shows above the fur collar of the coat. The ornament of this brocade seems to consist of the alternating letters Y and C, which occur in one or two other portraits of the period, and may eventually afford some clue as to the identity of the sitter. Round the neck is a twisted wire chain, from which hangs a headless cross and the bell of St. Anthony. Both hands are raised as high as the breast, the fingers and thumb of the left holding three pinks. A handsome ring with two stones is on the third finger. The face, wrinkled and lined, is full of expression and life; the lips are parted, as though about to give utterance to speech. Though the drawing is almost hard in its exact delineation, it is far from rigid. It is altogether an admirable example of Jan's lifelike realism, that loves to dwell on every little ugly {60} detail--ill-shapen ears, puffy "tear-bags," warts and wrinkles--and yet infuses the whole thing with the beauty of life and character. * * * * * [Illustration: THE VAN DER PAELE ALTAR-PIECE. BY JAN VAN EYCK.]