Redeemer); behind the head the ground is gold, and on it, in a semicircle, are three inscriptions, which again describe the Trinity, as all-mighty, all-good, and all-bountiful.  The two other figures of this picture display equal majesty; both are reading holy books and are turned towards the centre figure.  The countenance of John expresses ascetic seriousness, but in the Virgin’s we find a serene grace, and a purity of form, which approach very nearly to the happier efforts of Italian art.

On the wing next to the Virgin stand eight angels singing before a music-desk.  They are represented as choristers in splendid vestments and crowns.  The brilliancy of the stuffs and precious stones is given with the hand of a master, the music-desk is richly ornamented with Gothic carved work and figures, and the countenances are full of expression and life; but in the effort to imitate nature with the utmost truth, so as even to enable us to distinguish with certainty the different voices of the double quartet, the spirit of a holier influence has already passed away.  On the opposite wing, St. Cecilia sits at an organ, the keys of which she touches with an expression of deep meditation:  other angels stand behind the organ with different stringed instruments.  The expression of these heads shows far more feeling, and is more gentle; the execution of the stuffs and accessories is equally masterly.  The two extreme wings of the upper series, the subjects of which are Adam and Eve, are now in the Museum at Brussels.  The attempt to paint the nude figure of the size of life, with the most careful attention to minute detail, is eminently successful, with the exception of a certain degree of hardness in the drawing.  Eve holds in her right hand the forbidden fruit.  In the filling up, which the shape of the altar-piece made necessary over these panels, there are small subjects in chiaroscuro:  over Adam, the sacrifice of Cain and Abel; over Eve, the death of Abel—­death, therefore, as the immediate consequence of original sin.

The arrangement of the lower middle picture, the worship of the Lamb, is strictly symmetrical, as the mystic nature of the allegorical subject demanded, but there is such beauty in the landscape, in the pure atmosphere, in the bright green of the grass, in the masses of trees and flowers, even in the single figures which stand out from the four great groups, that we no longer perceive either hardness or severity in this symmetry.  The wing picture on the right, representing the holy pilgrims, is, in the figures, less striking than the others.  Here St. Christopher, who wandered through the world seeking the most mighty Lord, strides before all, a giant in stature, whilst a host of smaller pilgrims, of various ages, follow him.  A fruitful valley, with many details, showing a surprising observation of nature, is seen through the slender trees.  The cast of the folds in the ample red drapery of St. Christopher, as in the upper picture, reminds us still