is so fine in its details that in the case of the figures in the foreground who are holding open in their hands copies of the Scriptures the very passage at which each book is opened can be distinguished! We verified this remarkable assertion by the aid of a glass loaned us by an attendant. [Footnote 1: See "The Early Flemish Painters," by J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, pp. 49-63; and "Belgium, Its Cities," by Grant Allen, pp. 164-175.] The subsequent history of the painting is interesting. Philip II, who carried many Flemish masterpieces away to Spain, admired this one, but contented himself with a copy by Michel Coxcie, for which he paid four thousand ducats--which was quite likely more than the Van Eyck brothers received for the original. About 1578 the Calvinists of Ghent wished to present the painting to Queen Elizabeth in return for her support of their sect. For a time it was placed in the Hotel de Ville at Ghent, but was finally restored to the cathedral. After several other escapes from destruction or shipment abroad the work was finally dismembered out of deference to the views of Joseph II of Austria, during the period of Austrian rule in Flanders. He objected to the nude figures of Adam and Eve as unsuited to a church, and these were accordingly removed. The entire work was carried away during the French Revolution, but was returned some years later. The wings, however, were not restored to their original position, and were finally sold to a London dealer for four thousand pounds sterling. He, in turn, sold them to the King of Prussia, and they are now in the Museum of Berlin. The wings now at St. Bavon are the copies made by Coxcie. The original panels of Adam and Eve were stored for many years in the cellars of St. Bavon, and then were exchanged with the Belgian Government for the Coxcie wings just mentioned. They are now in the Brussels Museum. The Adam and Eve at St. Bavon are not even copies of the originals. [Illustration: "SINGING ANGELS" FROM "THE ADORATION OF THE LAMB."--JEAN VAN EYCK.]