A pious man who wanted to present an altar-piece or a stained-glass window to a church would modestly have his own image introduced in a corner.

By degrees such portraits grew in size and scale, and the neighbouring saints diminished, till at last the saints were left out and the portrait stood alone.

Then it came about that such a picture was hung in its owner's house rather than in a church.

One of the best portraits John van Eyck ever painted is at Bruges--the likeness of his wife.

The panel was discovered about fifty years ago in the market-place of Bruges, where an old woman was using the back of it to skin eels on; but so soundly had the picture been painted that even this ill-usage did not ruin it.