The earliest important Flemish painting in the Louvre is the famous
_Virgin and Child with the Chancellor Rolin_ (No. 1986, Plate XVI.) by
Jan van Eyck (_c._ 1390-1441), which was taken by order of Napoleon
I. from the Collegiate Church of Autun in Burgundy. In a three-aisled
colonnaded hall with stilted arches and pavement of geometrical inlay
is seen Nicholas Rolin, Chancellor of Burgundy and Brabant, kneeling
at a prayer-desk before the Virgin, on whose right knee is seated the
Infant Saviour holding an orb in His left and raising His right hand
in benediction. An angel with peacock-blue wings is floating above the
Virgin and holding an elaborately wrought golden crown over her head.
The exquisite detail of the river landscape with a view of Maastricht
extending beyond the open colonnade, the sumptuous brocaded dresses,
the carved capitals of columns and piers, and many other details
painted with inimitable minute skill, help towards an ensemble of
jewel-like splendour dimmed but not marred by the yellow varnish which
covers the surface. The _Virgin with the Donor_ was formerly generally
attributed to Hubert, but is most probably a late work by Jan van Eyck,
painted perhaps about 1432.