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Digital Signal Processing
A Primer With MATLAB®
Digital Signal Processing
A Primer With MATLAB®

Samir I. Abood
MATLAB® is a trademark of The MathWorks, Inc. and is used with permission. The MathWorks does not warrant the accuracy
of the text or exercises in this book. This book’s use or discussion of MATLAB® software or related products does not constitute
endorsement or sponsorship by The MathWorks of a particular pedagogical approach or particular use of the MATLAB® software.

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 Dedicated to

My great parents, who never stop giving of themselves in countless ways,

My beloved brothers and sisters;
My dearest wife, who offered me unconditional love
with the light of hope and support;
My beloved kids: Daniah, and Mustafa, whom I can't force myself to stop loving;
To all my family, the symbol of love and giving.
Contents
Preface............................................................................................................................................ xiii
Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................ xv
Author ............................................................................................................................................xvii

Chapter 1 Continuous and Discrete Signals ................................................................................. 1

1.1 Continuous Signals ............................................................................................1
1.1.1 Generation of Continuous Signals in MATLAB .................................1
1.1.2 Operations on Signals and Sequences..................................................2
1.2 Discrete-Time Signals .......................................................................................5
1.2.1 Complex Sequences..............................................................................5
1.3 Signals and Systems ..........................................................................................6
1.4 Classification of Signals and Systems ...............................................................6
1.4.1 Continuous-Time and Discrete-Time Signals ...................................... 6
1.4.2 Analog and Digital Signals .................................................................. 6
1.4.3 Deterministic and Random Signals......................................................6
1.4.4 Periodic and Nonperiodic Signals........................................................7
1.4.5 Power and Energy Signals....................................................................7
1.4.5.1 What Is Digital Signal Processing? ......................................7
1.4.5.2 Why DSP?.............................................................................7
1.4.5.3 Applications (DSP) ...............................................................7
1.5 Introduction to MATLAB in DSP.....................................................................8
1.5.1 MATLAB Windows.............................................................................8
1.5.2 Basic Commands in MATLAB............................................................9
1.6 Some Fundamental Sequences ........................................................................ 11
1.6.1 Impulse Response in MATLAB ........................................................ 11
1.6.2 Signal Duration .................................................................................. 12
1.7 Generation of Discrete Signals in MATLAB.................................................. 12
Problems..................................................................................................................... 17

Chapter 2 Signals Properties....................................................................................................... 19

2.1 Periodic and Aperiodic Sequences.................................................................. 19
2.2 Even and Odd Parts of a Signal (Symmetric Sequences).................................20
2.3 Signal Manipulations....................................................................................... 23
2.3.1 Transformations of the Independent Variable .................................... 23
2.3.1.1 Shifting ............................................................................... 23
2.3.1.2 Reversal .............................................................................. 23
2.3.1.3 Time-Scaling ...................................................................... 23
2.3.1.4 Addition, Multiplication, and Scaling ................................24
2.3.1.5 Addition ..............................................................................24
2.3.1.6 Multiplication......................................................................24
2.3.1.7 Scaling ................................................................................24
2.3.1.8 Signal Decomposition.........................................................24
2.4 Discrete-Time Systems....................................................................................25
2.4.1 System Properties...............................................................................25
2.4.1.1 Memoryless System ............................................................25
2.4.1.2 Additivity ............................................................................26
vii
viii Contents

2.4.1.3 Homogeneity.......................................................................26
2.4.1.4 Stability...............................................................................26
2.5 Linear Time-Invariant Causal Systems (LTI) ................................................. 27
2.5.1 Linearity ............................................................................................. 27
2.5.2 Time-Invariance ................................................................................. 31
2.5.3 Causality............................................................................................. 32
2.6 Definitions ....................................................................................................... 36
2.6.1 Continuous-Time System ................................................................... 36
2.6.2 Discrete-Time System ........................................................................ 37
2.6.2.1 Delay Operator.................................................................... 38
2.6.2.2 Convolution Property.......................................................... 38
2.6.2.3 Impulse Function ................................................................ 38
2.6.2.4 Impulse Response ............................................................... 38
2.6.2.5 Frequency Response ........................................................... 38
2.7 System Output ................................................................................................. 39
2.7.1 Causality............................................................................................. 39
2.7.2 Stability .............................................................................................. 39
2.7.3 Invertibility.........................................................................................40
2.7.4 Memory ..............................................................................................40
Problems..................................................................................................................... 42

Chapter 3 Convolution ................................................................................................................ 47

3.1 Linear Convolution.......................................................................................... 47
3.2 Convolution Properties .................................................................................... 47
3.2.1 Commutative Property ....................................................................... 47
3.2.2 Associative Property .......................................................................... 48
3.2.3 Distributive Property.......................................................................... 48
3.3 Types of Convolutions ..................................................................................... 48
3.3.1 Equations Method .............................................................................. 49
3.3.1.1 Convolution of Two Sequences in MATLAB..................... 53
3.3.2 Graphical Method .............................................................................. 54
3.3.3 Tabular Method .................................................................................. 55
Problems.....................................................................................................................60

Chapter 4 Difference Equations.................................................................................................. 65

4.1 Difference Equations and Impulse Responses ................................................ 65
4.2 System Representation Using Its Impulse Response.......................................66
4.3 The Methods That One May Use to Solve the Difference Equations ............. 67
4.4 The Classical Approach................................................................................... 68
Problems..................................................................................................................... 72

Chapter 5 Discrete-Time Fourier Series (DTFS)........................................................................ 75

5.1 DTFS Coefficients of Periodic Discrete Signals ............................................. 75
5.2 Parseval’s Relation........................................................................................... 77
5.3 Discreet Fourier Series .................................................................................... 79
Problems..................................................................................................................... 83
Contents ix

Chapter 6 Discrete-Time Fourier Transform (DTFT) ................................................................ 85

6.1 Frequency Response ........................................................................................ 85
6.2 DTFT for Any Discrete Signal........................................................................ 87
6.3 Inverse DTFT .................................................................................................. 88
6.4 Interconnection of Systems ............................................................................. 89
6.5 DTFT Properties ............................................................................................. 91
6.6 Applications of DTFT ..................................................................................... 91
6.7 LSI Systems and Difference Equations........................................................... 91
6.8 Solving Difference Equations Using DTFT.................................................... 93
6.9 Frequency Response in MATLAB................................................................ 102
Problems................................................................................................................... 106

Chapter 7 Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) .......................................................................... 109

7.1 Method of Decimation-in-Frequency ............................................................ 109
7.2 Method of Decimation-in-Time..................................................................... 112
7.3 Properties of Discrete Fourier Transform ..................................................... 117
7.4 Discrete Fourier Transform of a Sequence in MATLAB ............................. 122
7.5 Linear Convolution Using the DFT............................................................... 123
7.6 Generation of Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform in MATLAB ................. 124
Problems................................................................................................................... 125

Chapter 8 Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).................................................................................. 129

8.1 Fast Fourier Transform Definition................................................................. 129
8.1.1 Decimation-in-Time FFT .................................................................129
8.1.2 Decimation-in-Frequency FFT ........................................................129
8.2 Finding the FFT of Different Signals in MATLAB...................................... 134
8.3 Power Spectral Density Using Square Magnitude and Autocorrelation ....... 135
8.3.1 Equivalence of FFT and N-phase Sequence Component
Transformation ................................................................................. 136
Problems................................................................................................................... 140

Chapter 9 Z-Transform.............................................................................................................. 143

9.1 Z-Transform Representation .......................................................................... 143
9.2 Region of Convergence (ROC)...................................................................... 144
9.3 Properties of the z-transform ......................................................................... 147
9.4 Inverse z-transform ........................................................................................ 151
9.4.1 Partial Fraction Expansion and a Look-up Table .............................151
9.4.2 Power Series .....................................................................................154
9.4.3 Contour Integration .......................................................................... 154
Problems................................................................................................................... 163

Chapter 10 Z-Transform Applications in DSP ............................................................................ 165

10.1 Evaluation of LTI System Response Using Z-Transform .............................. 165
10.2 Digital System Implementation from Its Function ........................................ 165
10.3 Pole-Zero Diagrams for a Function in the z-Domain .................................... 172
10.4 Frequency Response Using z-Transform ....................................................... 172
Problems................................................................................................................... 174
x Contents

Chapter 11 Pole-Zero Stability ................................................................................................... 179

11.1 Concept Poles and Zeros ............................................................................... 179
11.1.1 Stability Determination Based z-Transform..................................... 179
11.1.2 The Z-Transform .............................................................................. 179
11.1.3 The “z-Plane” ................................................................................... 180
11.2 Difference Equation and Transfer Function .................................................. 180
11.3 BIBO Stability ............................................................................................... 182
11.4 The z-Plane Pole-Zero Plot and Stability ...................................................... 183
11.5 Stability Rules ............................................................................................... 184
Problems................................................................................................................... 191

Chapter 12 Sampling................................................................................................................... 193

12.1 Relating the FT to the DTFT for Discrete-Time Signals .............................. 193
12.2 Sampling........................................................................................................ 194
12.3 Band-Limited Signals.................................................................................... 194
12.4 Sampling of Continuous-Time Signals.......................................................... 194
12.5 Sampling Theorem ........................................................................................ 196
12.6 Band-Pass Sampling......................................................................................200
12.7 Quantization ..................................................................................................200
12.8 Uniform and Non-Uniform Quantization...................................................... 201
12.9 Audio Sampling............................................................................................. 205
12.10 Sampling Rate ............................................................................................... 205
Problems................................................................................................................... 205

Chapter 13 Digital Filters ...........................................................................................................209

13.1 Types Of Filters .............................................................................................209
13.1.1 Low-Pass Filters ...............................................................................209
13.1.2 High-Pass Filters ..............................................................................209
13.1.3 Band-Pass Filters..............................................................................209
13.1.4 Band-Stop Filters..............................................................................209
13.2 Infinite-Impulse-Response (IIR) Digital Filter ............................................. 212
13.2.1 Design of Filters Using Bilinear Transformation ............................ 213
13.2.2 Infinite-Impulse Response Filtering................................................. 215
13.2.3 Filter Characteristics ........................................................................ 216
13.3 Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Digital Filter................................................ 217
13.3.1 The Advantages of FIR Filters......................................................... 218
13.3.2 FIR Specifications ............................................................................ 218
13.3.3 Gibbs Phenomenon and Different Windowing ................................ 219
13.4 Comparison of IIR and FIR Digital Filters................................................... 219
Problems................................................................................................................... 220

Chapter 14 Implementation of IIR.............................................................................................. 223

14.1 Direction-Form I Realization ........................................................................ 223
14.2 Direction-Form II Realization.......................................................................224
14.3 Cascade (Series) Realization ......................................................................... 225
14.4 Parallel Realization ....................................................................................... 226
14.5 Transposed-Direct-Form-I............................................................................. 231
14.6 Transposed-Direct-Form-II ........................................................................... 232
Contents xi

14.7 Implementation of a Notch Filter by MATLAB ........................................... 234

14.8 Implementation of Infinite-Impulse Response Filters................................... 237
14.8.1 Analog-to-Digital Filter Design .......................................................237
14.8.2 Bilinear Transformation ................................................................... 237
Problems................................................................................................................... 239

Chapter 15 Implementation of FIR ............................................................................................. 241

15.1 Finite Impulse Response Filter Representation............................................. 241
15.2 Window Method ............................................................................................246
15.3 FIR-Filter Length Estimation Using Window Functions .............................. 252
Problems................................................................................................................... 259

Chapter 16 Digital Filter Design................................................................................................. 263

16.1 IIR Filter Design............................................................................................ 263
16.1.1 Analog-Filter Design........................................................................263
16.1.2 Bilinear Transformation (IIR Digital Filter) ....................................273
16.1.3 Higher-Order IIR Digital Filters ......................................................277
16.1.4 IIR Digital High-Pass, Band-Pass, and Band-Stop
Filter Design ..................................................................................... 279
16.1.5 Design a IIR Low-Pass Filter Using MATLAB...............................282
16.1.6 Design a IIR High-Pass Filter Using MATLAB..............................283
16.1.7 Design an IIR Band-Pass Filter Using MATLAB ...........................284
16.2 FIR-Filter Design........................................................................................... 285
16.2.1 Design of FIR Filters Using Windows ............................................. 286
Problems................................................................................................................... 292

Selected Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 295

Appendix A: Complex Numbers................................................................................................. 297
Appendix B: Mathematical Formulas........................................................................................ 301
Appendix C: MATLAB ...............................................................................................................309
Index.............................................................................................................................................. 315
Preface
Digital signal processing (DSP) denotes various techniques for improving the accuracy and reli-
ability of digital communications. The philosophy behind DSP is quite complicated. Digital signal
processing converts signals from an analog form into digital data that can then be analyzed and
consequently turned back into an analog signal with improved quality after the DSP system has
finished its work.
In DSP, the engineers usually study digital signals in one of the following domains: time domains,
frequency domains, spatial domains, and wavelet domains.
The applications of DSP include digital image processing, audio signal processing, audio com-
pression, speech processing, video compression, digital communications, digital synthesizers,
speech recognition radar systems, ultrasound and sonar, financial signal processing, seismology,
and biomedicine.
The DSP algorithms can be run on general-purpose computers and implemented using soft-
ware code program, and Simulink also can implement by using hardware as modern technologies
for digital signal processing include more powerful general-purpose controllers, microprocessors,
stream processors, and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
The typical processing approach in the time domain is an improvement of the input signal
through a method called filtering. In digital filters there are two types of filter with and without
feedback. There are various ways to characterize filters: as a linear filter, causal filter, time-invariant
filter, stable filter, finite impulse response (FIR) filter, and infinite impulse response (IIR) filter.
The signals are converted from the time domain to the frequency domain usually through the use
of the Fourier Transform. The Fourier Transform, also called spectrum or spectral analysis, con-
verts the time information into a magnitude and phase component of each frequency. The engineer
needs to study the spectrum to control which frequencies are present in the input signal and which
are missing.
Digital filters originate in both IIR and FIR types. While FIR filters are always stable, IIR filters
have feedback loops that may become unstable and oscillate. Digital filters can be analyzed through
the z-transform, which provides a tool for analyzing stability issues of digital IIR filters. Also, it is
analogous to the analyse and designs analog IIR filters represent the Laplace transform
The book offers a good understanding of a signal’s behavior and its applications. The book
begins with the study of signals and systems. Then it presents their applications in the different
types of configurations shown in lucid detail. The book presents the relation of signals and systems.
This book is intended for college students, both in community colleges and universities.
This book is organized into 16 chapters. With a short review of the basic concept of continuous
and discrete signals in Chapter 1, it starts with a discussion of continuous and discrete signals and
the generation of continuous and discrete signals in MATLAB®. It also discusses the classification
of signals and systems, MATLAB in DSP, and the applications of DSP. Chapter 2 presents signal
properties as periodic and aperiodic sequences, even and odd parts of a signal, transformations of
the independent variable, and linear time-invariant causal systems (LTI). The description of linear
convolution, convolution properties, and types of convolutions is discussed in Chapter 3.
Chapter 4 covers difference equations, and system representation using impulse response. Chapter
5 deals with the Discrete-Time Fourier Series (DTFS) coefficients of periodic discrete signals. It
includes the Discreet Fourier Series of the discrete systems. Discrete-Time Fourier Transform
(DTFT), frequency response, DTFT for discrete signals, and the interconnection of systems in
the frequency domain are covered in Chapter 6. Discrete Fourier Transform algorithms (DFT) are
included in Chapter 7. The chapter also elaborates on the method of decimation-in-frequency and
in time.

xiii
xiv Preface

In Chapter 8, the principles of the Fast Fourier Transform, decimation-in-frequency method, and
decimation-in-time method are examined. Chapter 9 discusses the z-transform, region of conver-
gence (roc), properties of the z-transform, and it also discusses the inverse of z-transform. Chapter
10 describes the z-transform applications in DSP for evaluating LTI system responses using z-trans-
form and implementation of the system using z-transform. Chapter 11 introduces pole-zero stability,
difference equations and transfer function, and the stability of DSP systems.
Chapter 12 discusses sampling relating the FT to the DTFT for discrete-time signals, the sam-
pling of continuous-time signals, and instantaneous sampling. The description of digital filters and
filter types and specifications is discussed in Chapter 13. Chapter 14 presents the implementation of
IIR digital filters and their properties and the design of a notch filter by MATLAB.
Chapter 15 deals with the implementation of Finite Impulse Response (FIR), and it is design.
Chapter 16 deals with the digital filter design, the realization of digital filters, and direction-form
I realization.
Earlier experience using the MATLAB program is not needed since the author highly recom-
mends that the reader studies this material in conjunction with the MATLAB Student Version.
Chapter 1 and Appendix C of this text provides a practical introduction to MATLAB.

MATLAB® is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc. For product information, please
contact:

The MathWorks, Inc.

3 Apple Hill Drive
Natick, MA 01760-2098 USA
Tel: 508 647 7000
Fax: 508-647-7001
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.mathworks.com
Acknowledgments
I appreciate the suggestions and comments from several reviewers, including assistance from
Prof. Zainab Ibrahim/University of Baghdad/Electrical Engineering Department, Dr. Muna Fayyadh/
Colorado Technical University, and special thanks to Nafisa Islam/Prairie View A&M University
Their frank and positive criticisms led to considerable improvement of this work.
Finally, I express my profound gratitude to my wife and children, without whose cooperation
this project would have been challenging if not impossible. We appreciate feedback from students,
professors, and other users of this book. I can be reached at [email protected] sabood@
student.pvamu.edu and [email protected].

xv
Author
Samir I. Abood received his BSc and MSc from the University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq, in
1996 and 2001, respectively. From 1997 to 2001, he worked as an engineer at the same university.
From 2001 to 2003, he was an assistant professor at the University of Baghdad and AL-Nahrain
University, and from 2003 to 2016, he was an assistant professor at Middle Technical University
University, Baghdad, Iraq. Presently, he is doing his PhD in the Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department at Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas. He is the author of 25 papers and
four books. His main research interests are in the area of sustainable power and energy systems,
microgrids, power electronics, and motor drives, the application of digital PID controllers, digital
methods to electrical measurements, digital signal processing, and control systems.

xvii
 1 Continuous and
Discrete Signals
Mathematically, signals are represented as a function of one or more independent variables. At
this point, we are focusing the attention on signals that involve a single independent variable.
Conventionally, it will generally refer to the independent variable as time. There are two types of
signals: continuous-time signals and discrete-time signals. In this chapter will focus on the kinds
of signals
This chapter gives you a quick way to become familiar with the MATLAB software by introduc-
ing you the basic features, commands, and functions. You will discover that entering and solving
complex numbers in MATLAB is as easy as entering and solving real numbers, especially with the
help of MATLAB built-in complex functions. Upon completion this chapter, and Appendix A you
should know how to start MATLAB, how to get HELP, how to assign variables in MATLAB and
to perform the typical complex numbers operations (i.e., complex conjugate, addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, expression simplification) and the conversions of complex numbers in both
rectangular and polar forms with and without using MATLAB built-in functions.

1.1 CONTINUOUS SIGNALS

The continuous-time signal is the signals or quantities that can be defined and represented at certain
time instants of the sequence. A speech signal as a function of time can be classified as a contin-
uous-time signal while the discrete-time signal is the signals or quantities that can be defined and
represented at certain time instants of the sequence. The weekly Dow Jones stock market index is
an example of a discrete-time signal.
To distinguish between continuous-time and discrete-time signals, we use the symbol “t” to
denote the continuous variable and “n” to indicate the discrete-time variable. And for the contin-
uous-time signals, we will enclose the independent variable in parentheses (•), for discrete-time
signals we will insert the independent variable in square brackets [•].
A discrete-time signal [nx] may represent a phenomenon for which the independent variable
is inherently discrete. Also, a discrete-time signal [nx] may represent successive samples of an
underlying aspect for which the independent variable is continuous. For example, the processing of
speech on a digital computer requires the use of a discrete-time sequence representing the values
of the continuous-time speech signal at discrete points of time. Mostly, it is important to consider
signals as related through a modification of the independent variable. These modifications will usu-
ally lead the signal to reflection, scaling, and shift.

1.1.1 Generation of Continuous siGnals in MatlaB

The following is a MATLAB program to generate continuous-time signals like unit step, sawtooth,
triangular, sinusoidal, ramp, and sinc function.

%generate unit Step

clc;
clear all;
close all;
t=-20:0.01:20;

1
2 Digital Signal Processing

L=length(t);
for i=1:L
if t(i)<0
x1(i)=0;
x2(i)=0;
else
x1(i)=1;
x2(i)=t(i);
end;
end;
figure;
plot(t,x1);
xlabel('t');
ylabel('amplitude');
title('unit step');
grid

Figure 1.1 shows the output after running the program.

1.1.2 operations on siGnals and sequenCes

To perform various operations on signals such as addition, multiplication, scaling, shifting, and
folding using the MATLAB program follow the below.

%Sum of two signals

clc;
close all;
clear all;
t=0:0.001:1;
L=length(t);
f1=1;
f2=3;
x1=sin(2*pi*f1*t);

unit step

0.8

0.6
amplitude

0.4

0.2

–20 –15 –10 –5 0 5 10 15 20

t

FIGURE 1.1 Generation of the unit step function.

Continuous and Discrete Signals 3

x2=sin(2*pi*f2*t);
figure;
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t,x1,’b’,t,x2,’r’);
xlabel(‘t’);
ylabel(‘amplitude’);
title(‘The signals x1(t) and x2(t)’);
x3=x1+x2;
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(t,x3);
xlabel(‘t’);
ylabel(‘amplitude’);
title(‘The sum of x1(t) and x2(t)’);

Figure 1.2 Shows the results obtained from the sum of the two functions.

% Multiplication of two signals

clc;
close all;
clear all;
t=0:0.001:1;
L=length(t);
f1=1;
f2=3;
x1=sin(2*pi*f1*t);
x2=sin(2*pi*f2*t);
figure;
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t,x1,’b’,t,x2,’r’);
xlabel(‘t’);
ylabel(‘amplitude’);
title(‘The signals x1(t) and x2(t)’);
x4=x1.*x2;
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(t,x4);
xlabel(‘t’);
ylabel(‘amplitude’);
title(‘The multiplication of x1(t) and x2(t)’);

The signals x1(t) and x2(t)

1
amplitude

0
–1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t

The sum of x1(t) and x2(t)

2
amplitude

0
–2
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t

FIGURE 1.2 The sum of functions.

4 Digital Signal Processing

The signals x1(t) and x2(t)

1
amplitude

0
–1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t

The multiplication of x1(t) and x2(t)

1
amplitude

0
–1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t

FIGURE 1.3 The multiplying of two functions.

Figure 1.3 shows the results obtained from multiplying the two functions.

% Shifting of two signals

clc;
close all;
clear all;
t=0:0.001:1;
L=length(t);
f1=1;
f2=3;
x1=sin(2*pi*f1*t);
x2=sin(2*pi*f2*t);
figure;
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t,x1,’b’,t,x2,’r’);
xlabel(‘t’);
ylabel(‘amplitude’);
title(‘The signals x1(t) and x2(t)’);

The signals x1(t) and x2(t)

1
amplitude

–1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t

the shifting of x1(t)and x2(t)

1
amplitude

–1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t

FIGURE 1.4 The Shifting function.

Continuous and Discrete Signals 5

x3=[zeros(1,100),x2(1☹L-100))];
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(t,x3);
title(‘the shifting of x1(t)and x2(t)’);
xlabel(‘t’);
ylabel(‘amplitude’);

Figure 1.4 shows the results obtained from shifting the function.

1.2 DISCRETE-TIME SIGNALS

A discrete-time signal is an indexed sequence of real, imaginary, or complex numbers, and it
is a function of an integer-valued n that is denoted by x(n). Although the independent variable
n need not necessarily represent “time” (n may, for example, correspond to a spatial coordinate
or distance), x(n) is generally referred to as a function of time. Figure 1.5 shows a real-valued
signal x(n).
In some problems and applications, it is convenient to view x(n) as a vector. Thus, the sequence
values x(0) to x(N – 1) may often be considered to be the elements of a column vector as follows:

X = [ x(0), x(1),… , x( N −1)]

T
(1.1)

Discrete-time signals are often derived from sampling a continuous-time signal, such as speech,
with an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. For example, a continuous-time signal x(n) that is sam-
pled at a rate of fs = l/Ts samples per second produces the sampled signal x(n), which is related to
xa(t) as follows:

x(n) = xa ( nTs ) (1.2)

1.2.1 CoMplex sequenCes

Generally, a discrete-time signal may be complex-valued. A complex signal can be expressed either
in terms of its real or imaginary parts,

z(n) = a(n) + j b(n) = Re {z(n)} + j Im {z(n)} (1.3)

or in the polar form in terms of its magnitude and phase,

x(n)

–2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 n

FIGURE 1.5 Generation of a discrete function.

6 Digital Signal Processing

z(n) = z(n) exp  j arg {z(n)} (1.4)

The magnitude may be derived from the real and imaginary parts as follows:

z(n) = Re 2 {z(n)} + Im 2 {z(n)}

2
(1.5)

Whereas the phase may be found using

Im {z(n)}
arg {z(n)} = tan −1 (1.6)
Re {z(n)}

If z(n) is a complex sequence, the complex conjugate, denoted by z*(n), is formed by changing the
sign on the imaginary part of z(n):

z* = Re {z(n)} − j Im {z(n)} = z(n) exp  − j arg {z(n)} (1.7)

1.3 SIGNALS AND SYSTEMS

Signals and systems are important for expressing the mathematical model in the modern commu-
nication system. Signals are time-varying quantities such as voltages or current. And, the system
is a combination of devices and networks (subsystems) that are chosen to perform the desired
function. Because of the sophistication of modern communication systems, a great deal of analysis
and experimentation with trial subsystems occurs before the actual building of the desired system.
Therefore, the communication engineer’s tools are the mathematical models for producing signals
and systems.

1.4 CLASSIFICATION OF SIGNALS AND SYSTEMS

The signals and systems are classified into:

1.4.1 Continuous-tiMe and disCrete-tiMe siGnals

By the term continuous-time signal, we mean a real or complex function of time s(t), where the
independent variable t is continuous.
If t is a discrete variable, i.e., s(t) is defined at discrete times, then the signal s(t) is a discrete-time
signal. A discrete-time signal is often identified as a sequence of numbers, denoted by {s(n)}, where
n is an integer.

1.4.2 analoG and diGital siGnals

If a continuous-time signal s(t) can take on any values in a continuous-time interval, then s(t) is
called an analog signal.
If a discrete-time signal can take on only a finite number of distinct values, {s(n)}, then the signal
is called a digital signal.

1.4.3 deterMinistiC and randoM siGnals

Deterministic signals are those signals whose values are completely specified for any given time.
Random signals are those signals that take random values at any given times.
Continuous and Discrete Signals 7

1.4.4 periodiC and nonperiodiC siGnals

A signal s(t) is a periodic signal if s(t) = s(t + nT0), where T0 is called the period and the integer
n > 0.
If s(t) ≠ s(t + T0) for all t and any T0, then s(t) is a nonperiodic or a periodic signal.

1.4.5 power and enerGy siGnals

A complex signal s(t) is a power signal if the average normalized power P is finite, where

T /2
1
P = lim
T →∞ T ∫ s(t )s (t )dt
−T /2
*
0<P<∞ (1.8)

and s*(t) is the complex conjugate of s(t).

A complicated signal s(t) is an energy signal if the normalized energy E is finite, where

∞ ∞

∫ s(t ) s (t ) dt = ∫ s(t )
2
E= *
dt 0<E<∞ (1.9)
−∞ −∞

In communication systems, the received waveform is usually categorized into the desired part that
contains the information signal and the undesired part, which is called noise.

1.4.5.1 What Is Digital Signal Processing?

A signal is a function of a set of independent variables with time being perhaps the most prevalent
single variable. The signal itself carries some kind of information available for observation. By the
term processing, we mean operating in some fashion on a signal to extract some useful information.
In many cases, this processing will be a nondestructive “transformation” of the given data signal;
however, some essential processing methods turn out to be irreversible and thus destructive. Also,
the word digital means that the processing is done with a digital computer or particular purpose
digital hardware.

1.4.5.2 Why DSP?

• Rapid advancement in integrated circuit design and manufacture, which leads to more pro-
duction of powerful DSP system on a single chip with decreasing size and cost.
• Digital processing is inherently stable and reliable.
• In many cases, DSP is used to process several signals simultaneously; it is done by using a
technique known as “TDM” (time-division-multiplexing).
• Digital implementation permits easy adjustment of process characteristics during
processing, such as that needed for implementing adaptive circuits.

1.4.5.3 Applications (DSP)

• Spectral Analysis
• Speech Recognition
• Biomedical Signal Analysis
• Digital Filtering
• Digital Modems
• Data Encryption
• Image Enhancement and Compression
8 Digital Signal Processing

1.5 INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB IN DSP

MATLAB, which stands for Matrix Laboratory, is a compelling program for performing numerical
and symbolic calculations. It is widely used in science and engineering, as well as in mathematics.
The basics of the technical language of MATLAB is a technical language to ease scientific compu-
tations, and the name derived from Matrix Laboratory. It provides many of the attributes of spread-
sheets and programming languages. MATLAB is a case sensitive language (a variable named “c” is
different than another one called “C”). In interactive mode, MATLAB scripts are platform indepen-
dent (right for cross-platform portability). MATLAB works with matrices. Everything MATLAB
understands is a matrix (from text to large cell arrays and structure arrays). The MATLAB environ-
ment shown in Figure 1.6.

1.5.1 MatlaB windows

MATLAB works through three basic windows.
Command window: This is the main window. It is characterized by the MATLAB command
prompt “>>.” When you launch the MATLAB application, the program starts with window and all
commands, including those for user-written programs, are typed into this window at the MATLAB
prompt.
Graphics window: The output of all graphics commands typed in the command window are
flushed to the graphics or figure window, which is a separate gray window with a white background
color. The user can create as many windows as the system memory will allow.
Edit window: This is where you write, edit, create, and save your programs in files called M
files.
Input–output: MATLAB supports interactive computation taking the input from the screen and
flushing the output to the screen. Also, it can read input files and write output files.
Data type: The fundamental data type in MATLAB is the array. It encompasses several distinct
data objects-integers, real numbers, matrices, character strings, structures, and cells. There is no
need to declare variables as real or complex; MATLAB automatically sets the variable as real.

FIGURE 1.6 The MATLAB environment.

Continuous and Discrete Signals 9

Dimensioning: Dimensioning is automatic in MATLAB. No dimension statements are required

for vectors or arrays. We can find the dimensions of an existing matrix or a vector with the size and
length commands.
All programs and commands can be entered either in the command window or in the M file using
the MATLAB editor; then you can save all M files in the folder “work” in the current directory.

1.5.2 BasiC CoMMands in MatlaB

No. Commands Description

1 Y = 0:2:20 This instruction indicates a vector Y which as initial value 0 and final value 20 with
an increment of 2. Therefore:
Y = [0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20].
2 M = 40:5:100 M = [40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100].
3 N = 0: 1/pi: 1 N = [0, 0.3183, 0.6366, 0.9549].
4 zeros (1,5) Creates a vector of one row and five columns whose values are zero Output = [0 0
0 0 0].
5 ones (2,6) Creates a vector of two rows and six columns
Output = 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1.
6 a = [2 2 –5] a*b = [6 10 –20].
b = [3 5 4]
7 plot (t,x) This instruction will display a figure window which indicates the plot of x versus t.
If x = [6 7 8 9]
t = [1 2 3 4]

8 stem (t,x) This instruction will display a figure window as shown.

(Continued)
10 Digital Signal Processing

No. Commands Description

9 Subplot This function divides the figure window into rows and columns.
Subplot (2, 2, 1) divides the figure window into three rows and three columns
1,2,3,4,…. represent the number of the figure.

(3,3,1) (3,3,2) (3,3,3)

(3,3,4) (3,3,5) (3,3,6)

(3,3,7) (3,3,8) (3,3,9)

10 Conv Syntax: y = conv(a,b)

Description: y = conv(a,b) convolves vectors a and b.
11 Disp Syntax: disp(X)
Description: disp(X) displays an array, without printing the array name. If X
contains a text string, the string is displayed.
12 FFT FFT(X) is the discrete Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of vector X. For matrices, the
FFT operation applied to each column. For N-D arrays, the FFT operation
operates on the first non-singleton dimension. FFT(X,N) is the N-point FFT,
padded with zeros if X has less than N-points and truncated if it has more.
13 ABS Absolute value.
ABS(X) is the absolute value of the elements of X. When X is complex, ABS(X) is
the complex modulus (magnitude) of the elements of X.
14 ANGLE Phase angle.
ANGLE(H): the phase angles, in radians, of a matrix with complex elements.
15 INTERP Y = INTERP(X,L) re-samples the sequence in vector X at L times the original
sample rate. The resulting resampled vector Y is L times longer, LENGTH(Y) =
L*LENGTH(X). Resample data at a higher rate using low-pass interpolation.
16 DECIMATE Y = DECIMATE(X,M) re-samples the sequence in vector X at 1/M times the
original sample rate. The resulting resampled vector Y is M times shorter,
LENGTH(Y) = CEIL(LENGTH(X)/M). By default, DECIMATE filters the data
with an 8th order Chebyshev Type I low-pass filter with cut-off frequency,
8*(Fs/2) /R, before re-sampling. Resample data at a lower rate after
low-pass filtering.
17 xlabel Syntax: xlabel('string')
Description: xlabel('string') labels the x-axis of the current axes.
18 ylabel Syntax: ylabel('string')
Description: ylabel('string') labels the y-axis of the current axes.
19 Title Syntax: title('string')
Description: title('string') outputs the string at the top and in the center of the
current axes.
20 grid on Syntax: grid on.
Description: grid on adds major grid lines to the current axes.
21 Help List topics on which support is available.
22 Help command name Provides help on the topic selected.
23 Demo Runs the demo program.

(Continued)
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
perhaps because they regarded the affair as a mere drunken frolic. At
all events, he was quit with a fine of 15 Peters.

The next thing that we know of Meester Jan is that in 1524 he

married—a most unfortunate proceeding, as it afterwards turned
out, not only for himself but for us. If he had been content to remain
single, or if he had not been fascinated by the charms of Catherine
Metsys, he might have gone on to the end of the chapter, carving
sublime statues and intoxicating himself occasionally, with no worse
consequences perhaps than a periodical touch of liver, and maybe
now and again a fine for assaulting harmless burghers. As it was, his
career was cut short, and it was all his Eve's doing.

For a time, however, things went well: Jan settled down to

family life, and showed himself an exemplary husband; and if the
grey mare were the better horse, he was probably happy in her
leading strings, for she seems to have been a most fascinating and
accomplished creature, the beau-ideal of an artist's wife. And well
she might be, seeing the blood that ran in her veins; for her father,
Josse Metsys, whose acquaintance we have already made, was in his
way a genius no less remarkable than his more famous brother
Quentin. By trade he was a locksmith, but he by no means confined
his talent to the fabrication of articles of iron-mongery, though locks
and keys in those days were often works of art. He busied himself
with clocks and jewellery, was a cunning worker in all kinds of
metal, and late in life began to dabble in brick and mortar, and with
such success that when Saint Peter's towers were burnt down he was
commissioned to build them up again, in spite of the fact that he was
not a professional mason. This was in 1507. He prepared his plans,
and magnificent plans they were (you may see them still in the Town
Hall, traced by old Josse himself on a large sheet of parchment)—a
great central tower 535 feet high, flanked by two smaller towers, each
of 430 feet; all three crowned with spires of open work, something in
the style of Saint Gertrude's.

In due course the foundations were laid, and Josse supervised

the building operations for something like sixteen years, and then
things came to a standstill—a dispute, seemingly, with the dean and
chapter, who refused to pay him his wages. He appealed to the city
magistrates; and they, having vainly essayed to arrange matters,
commissioned him to carve for them in stone an exact model of the
projected building (August 1524), partly because they thought old
Josse had been harshly treated and they knew he was poor, and
partly because such a model would be useful to his successor, for he
was now a very old man, and Death sat close to him.

The issue proved how wise they were. He died shortly

afterwards (May 1530), and his towers are unfinished still; but the
master-mason who shall one day complete them will have no excuse
if he fail to realise the old locksmith's glorious dream, for he lived
long enough to make the model (1529), and along with his plans it is
still preserved in the archive chamber of the Town Hall. In all
probability, the greater part of it was not carved by Metsys himself,
but the work was all done under his supervision; and the man who
helped him, it will be interesting to note, was his son-in-law, Jan
Beyaert.

It was most likely about this time that Meester Jan set to work
on his stalls, for we know that they were the gift of Abbot Peter Was,
who ruled Saint Gertrude's from 1527 to 1546. An elaborate work of
this kind must have taken a man like Beyaert many years to
complete; he died in 1543, and for a considerable period before his
death he had ceased to occupy himself with art. He had taken up
theology instead, and that was his undoing. It happened thus:
Calvinism was now making headway in all the towns of the
Netherlands, Catherine embraced the new doctrine, she was a
woman of will and of energy, and soon she became the leading spirit
of the little band of Protestants at Louvain. Of course she had no
difficulty in persuading her husband to join them, and soon the poor
artist was converted into a hot Gospeller. Strange irony of fate that
the man who had made graven images all his life should end his
days an iconoclast. He did not turn his hand against his own work;
perhaps he still, in spite of his wife, had a sneaking tenderness for
sculpture, but his practice squared with his preaching in the matter
of pictures, and one night, toward the close of the year 1542, or early
in 1543, he broke into the Church of Saint Pierre, and then into the
Church of Saint Jacques, in each of them wrecked several valuable
paintings, and afterwards, with the fragments, made a bonfire in the
Grand' Place. Presently he was arraigned for heresy and sacrilege,
found guilty, and condemned to the stake. Hope, however, seems to
have been held out to him that if he would give evidence against his
accomplices the sentence would be reconsidered, and at last, under
torture, he opened his mouth, and who shall throw a stone at him?
How many of us, gentle reader, are of the stuff of which martyrs are
made? If he believed that his life would be spared he was bitterly
disappointed, but his cowardice gained for him this much—instead
of burning him they cut off his head. With all his faults, he was a
great artist. Let him rest in peace. As for poor Catherine, who had
been arrested along with her husband, hers was a more terrible fate.
On the 14th of July 1443 they buried her alive.
 Reader, before quitting Saint Gertrude's, go into the chapel,
which skirts the north side of the choir, and there, on the north wall,
you will find a white marble tablet, engraved with a Latin
inscription. We have here the requiem of Abbot Renesse, and one
likes to think that he wrote it himself. Read it, and perhaps it will
make you forget the discordant notes of poor Beyaert's gruesome
dirge.

D. O. M.
Viatorum in terris implorat
suffragium
et eorum in cœlis sperat
Consortium
A. G. Baro de Renesse
Sanctæ Gertrudis Abbas
XX obiit 8 Martii 1785
R.I.P.
 CHAPTER XVII
Pictures and Painters

I n another volume of this series we have already said something

concerning the origin and history of mediæval Flemish art. Within
the limited space at our disposal anything more than a mere sketch
would be impossible, and it would be superfluous and wearisome to
repeat in the present handbook, which is in some sense the
companion volume to The Story of Bruges, what has been there set
down on the subject in question. We shall therefore content ourselves
by adding here, by way of complement, a few notes (culled for the
most part from Mr Weale's published writings) on the mediæval art
corporations of the Low Country—those famous guilds of Saint
Luke, of Our Lady, of Saint John, within whose ranks were formed
all the great Flemish masters of the old national school, and by
recounting as briefly as may be what is known of the five most noted
Brabant painters of the Middle Age:—Roger van der Weyden,
Dierick Boudts, Hugo van der Goes, Quentin Metsys, and Bernard
van Orley. Men, all of them, whose names are intimately associated
with Brussels or with Louvain.

In the early days the art of painting, like all the other arts and
crafts, was cultivated only in the cloister, and to the end of the eleven
hundreds it was submitted almost entirely to the control of the
religious orders. Not that the monks were the only artists and the
only artisans: attached to all the great abbeys, and even to some of
the smaller monasteries, and to more than one collegiate church,
were vast bodies of lay craftsmen—so vast that their numbers were
often reckoned by hundreds, sometimes by thousands, as we have
documentary evidence to show: these men lived under the
protection of the monks, had received their instruction at their
hands, worked for them and with them, on the monastic domain,
and also, but under strict regulations, for outsiders as well. Presently
a change came, brought about by the rise of the cities: the monastery
then ceased to be the only place where art could be cultivated in
peace, and a vast immigration of artists to these new havens of
refuge was the consequence. The new-comers, too feeble to stand
alone, and not at first sufficiently numerous to be able to form
distinct corporations, solved the difficulty by affiliating themselves to
existing trade companies, sculptors joining hands with masons, and
painters with glaziers and saddlers. A few abbeys here and there
continued for a while to maintain their art schools and their lay art-
workers, but their numbers gradually diminished, and by the close
of the twelve hundreds there were no lay craftsmen of any kind
outside the city walls. By this time the city artists were sufficiently
numerous to be able to combine in distinct corporations. The first
institution of this kind of which we have any record was the Guild of
Saint Luke at Ghent, which was founded by the art-workers of that
city as early as 1337; four years later the painters of Tournai followed
their example; the guild of Saint Luke, at Louvain, was founded
before 1350, that of Bruges in 1351, of Antwerp in 1382, and by the
opening of the fourteen hundreds almost every city in the
Netherlands possessed its painters' guild.
 In no town where a guild was established was any outside
painter suffered to ply his craft for money, and no man could
become a member of the local guild unless he were a burgher of the
town by right of birth or of purchase. If a youth aspired to become a
painter, the first step was to enroll his name as a companion or
probationer in the register of the guild of the town in which he
intended to practise. He was then required to serve an
apprenticeship under some master painter approved by the guild,
who was responsible not only for his technical instruction but also
for his fidelity to his civil and his religious duties. During this time
he lived with his master, and was bound to serve and obey him, and
the latter in his turn was bound to thoroughly instruct him in all that
concerned his craft. Nor was this all, when he had received his
indentures he had to serve as a journeyman under some qualified
master-painter, but not necessarily a member of the guild which he
himself proposed to join. When the time of his probation had expired
—it seems to have varied from town to town—he presented himself
before the heads of the guild, and brought with him a picture which
he himself had painted. If it came up to the required standard of
excellence, and if, after examining him, they were satisfied of his
technical knowledge and skill, he solemnly declared that he would
obey the rules of the guild, promised before God that his work
should be good, honest, genuine, the best of which he was capable,
paid the prescribed fees, and, without more ado, was enrolled in the
books of the guild as an effective member. But though he was now
called a free master, had the right to set up for himself, to vote at the
annual election of the chiefs of the guild, and was himself eligible for
office, he was still submitted to the control of his association: the
Dean and Juries could search his workshop when they would, and
without warning, at any hour of the day or night, and if they
discovered there any painting materials of inferior quality they had
the right not only to seize and confiscate them, but to inflict on their
owner some penalty commensurate with

TÊTE DE FEMME EN PLEURS,

ATTRIBUTED TO ROGER VAN DER
WEYDEN, BRUSSELS GALLERY.

Click to view larger image.

the offence; and if any dispute arose between a painter and his
patron, the matter was brought before the Dean and Juries of the
guild, and the city magistrates were bound to enforce their decision.
 The art associations of the Low Countries were most powerful
during the latter half of the fourteen hundreds, precisely the period
when Flemish art attained the zenith of its magnificence. They were
united to one another by ties of the closest friendship: members of
one guild never had any difficulty in obtaining admission to another,
and some painters seem to have belonged to several guilds at the
same time. From the middle of the fourteen hundreds onwards,
delegates from all the painters' guilds in the Netherlands were wont
to meet together every three years in some town or other, where they
spent several days discussing topics of common interest, comparing
notes, and communicating to one another any new professional
discoveries that had been made: hence the remarkable uniformity in
the technique of all the Flemish pictures of the period which have
come down to us. Such were the institutions which produced some
of the greatest painters whom the world has ever seen. They never
considered themselves, and were never considered, superior to other
craftsmen, but in those days, be it borne in mind, every craftsman
was an artist.

Roger van der Weyden

Roger van der Weyden was born at Tournai in the year 1400; he
was apprenticed to the Tournai painter, Robert Campin, on the 5th of
March 1426, and admitted a free master of the Guild of Saint Luke in
that city on the 1st of August 1432.

The above facts are established by local contemporary

documents, which are undoubtedly genuine, but though the archives
of Tournai have been searched through and through, with a view to
finding a possible ancestor for Roger van der Weyden, only this
much has as yet been discovered concerning his parentage—that his
father's Christian name was Henry (sic), and that he died before the
year 1435. We learn, however, from some entries in the town
accounts of Louvain that one Henrich van der Wyden was living in that
city in 1424, and that he was a sculptor by trade. Was this man
Roger's father?

It is not absolutely certain, but there is good reason to believe

that before he was a painter Roger himself handled the chisel. This is
in itself significant; and though it seems at first sight improbable that
a citizen of Louvain should have been the father of a son born at
Tournai, when we remember that citizen's calling, and that the
sculptors of Tournai were in those days famous throughout Europe,
the difficulty disappears. Henrich, we may be very sure, would have
made frequent visits to Tournai on account of his professional
pursuits; nor is it in the least unlikely that upon one of these
occasions he should have been accompanied by his wife, or that
during the sojourn there she should have given birth to a son.

Be these things as they may, we know that the great Brussels

painter was sometimes called Roger van der Weyden, and sometimes
Rogier de la Pasture, and this is in itself prima facie evidence that his
family was of Flemish origin. The translation of Flemish names into
French or Latin was common enough in the Middle Age, the inverse
exceedingly rare.

Roger was married before 1435 to Ysabel Goffart, a lady of

Brussels, and it was perhaps on her account that he left his native
town: we know that he and his wife were settled in Brussels in 1435.
He seems

'PIETA' ATTRIBUTED TO ROGER VAN

DER WEYDEN, BRUSSELS GALLERY.
click to view larger image.

to have rapidly made a reputation, for the following year he was

named by the city fathers Portraiteur de la Ville. Soon he was busy
illuminating the sculptured tomb which Philippe l'Asseuré had
erected in memory of Duchess Jeanne in the Carmelite Church, and
painting those four panel pictures for the Justice Chamber of the
Town Hall, which created so great a sensation, says Albert Dürer,
that the whole world came to see them, and which, alas, have long
since disappeared.

We know very little of Roger's life between 1436 and 1450, but it
is certain that during this time he worked not only for the town of
Brussels, but also for various convents and corporations, and for
private individuals as well. In 1443 he was commissioned by Willem
Edelheere and his wife, Adelaïde Cappuyns, to decorate their
oratory in the Church of Saint Peter at Louvain; and the triptych—a
'Descent from the Cross,' with portraits of Edelheere and his wife
and their patron saints—which still adorns this chapel, is said to be
Roger's work. Indeed, according to M. van Even, the archivist of
Louvain, we have here the only painting in Belgium which is
certainly Roger's work. Its authenticity, however, is disputed, and it
has been much spoiled by restoration.

One at least of Van der Weyden's pictures of this period has

come down to us—the 'Descent from the Cross' which he painted in
1440 for the Louvain Confraternity of the Grand Serment, and which
is now at Madrid. The 'Weeping Woman' (No. 56) of the Brussels
Gallery is an ancient copy, or perhaps a study by the master himself,
of one of the heads in this picture. The next thing we know of Roger
van der Weyden is that in 1450 he made a pilgrimage to Rome for the
Jubilee of that year, and we know, too, something of the incidents of
this journey. He sojourned, amongst other places, at Ferrara and at
Florence, and wherever he went he was welcomed and fêted not only
by the members of his own craft, but also by the Sovereigns of the
cities he visited. At Ferrara he must have worked for Lionel d'Este,
for on his return we find him receiving from that prince 20 golden
ducats in part payment for certe depicture executed in his palace
there; and at Florence he painted a triptych for Cosmo Medici—the
'Madonna and Child, surrounded by Saints,' now in the Städel
Museum at Frankfort.

In each of these cities, then, he must have remained a

considerable time. He does not seem to have practised his art in
Rome. Perhaps his stay there was a short one, and that his time was
fully occupied by sightseeing and devotion. That he fully
appreciated the art treasures of the Eternal City there can be no
doubt, and we know that he was enraptured with the Lateran
pictures of Gentile da Fabriano, whom he pronounced to be the first
painter in Italy.

On his return to Brussels, Roger van der Weyden set to work

with renewed vigour. We still possess three of the pictures which he
painted after his journey to Italy:—the 'Nativity' triptych, with the
portrait of Peter Bladelin, now in the Museum at Berlin; the 'Last
Judgment,' which Chancellor Rolin ordered for the Hôtel Dieu at
Baune (the authenticity of this picture is disputed); and the
'Adoration of the Magi,' in the Pinakothek at Munich. The last two
especially show how profoundly the great Brussels painter was
influenced by his pilgrimage to Rome: the composition of the Baune
picture is almost the same as that of Andrea Orcagna's 'Last
Judgment,' and the main outlines of the Munich picture distinctly
recall the 'Adoration' of Gentile da Fabriano.

Of the numerous paintings attributed to Roger van der Weyden,

probably not more than five or six are of incontestable authenticity.
He certainly painted the 'Descent from the Cross' at Madrid, the
'Nativity' at Berlin, the Medici triptych at Frankfort, and the
'Adoration of the Magi' at Munich. These pictures are universally
acknowledged to be his work. Of the rest, most are attributed to him
merely on account of the similarity of style to the style of the work
which is known to be his, and are without signature or other
designation.

There is very little doubt, however, that several of these are

genuine Van der Weydens—the 'Seven Sacraments' at Antwerp, for
example, and the 'Pièta' of the Brussels Gallery; but at the same time,
when pictures are unsigned and there is no documentary evidence as
to their authorship, it is well-nigh impossible to arrive at absolute
certainty. Sometimes a pupil is able to so exactly acquire his master's
manner that the greatest experts are thereby deceived. It was so in
the case of the famous Sforza picture, formerly in the Zambeccari
Collection at Bologna, and now in the Brussels Gallery (No. 31). This
beautiful picture—a 'Calvary,' with portraits of Francesco Sforza, his
wife Bianca Visconti and their young son Galeazzo—was attributed
by some experts to Memling, and it was thus ascribed in the official
catalogue of the Brussels Gallery. There were others, no less
competent, who were convinced that it was Roger's work; it dated,
no doubt, they said, from the time of his sojourn in Italy. Mr. Weale,
however, was quite sure that neither of these artists had painted it,
and, thanks to his recent research, we now know the true story of the
picture. The critics who said that it was in Van der Weyden's style
were quite right, but it was not painted by the master himself, but by
his pupil, Zanetto Bugatto, of Milan. The Duchess of Milan, it seems,
had seen some of Roger's pictures, and was so charmed by them that
she requested him to paint her portrait. He, for some reason or other,
being unable at the time to leave home, was compelled to decline the
commission, and the Duchess sent the young Milanese painter,
Zanetto Bugatto, to Brussels in order that he might study with Roger,
and thus acquire his style. This was in the year 1460. Bugatto
remained in Brussels three years, and on his return to his native
town he painted the picture in question.

There is a tradition, which does not seem to be well founded,

that Roger van der Weyden was at one time the pupil of John van
Eyck. If this were so, he was certainly not much influenced by his
master's manner of painting. John delighted in serene immobility,
Roger in tragic action. His tall, wan, emaciated figures always live
and feel; and though he could, when he would, depict tranquillity,
and his portraits are as calm and collected as any of those which
were painted by John van Eyck, unlike Van Eyck's, they are almost
always ascetic-looking, and very often sad. He seems to have been
unable to appreciate the beauty of health and gladness.

Guicciardini says that Memling was Roger's pupil, but there is

no documentary evidence to show that such was the case. We know
next to nothing of the first days of the great Bruges painter, but his
earlier pictures distinctly recall the pictures of Van der Weyden; and
if he were not his pupil, he must have certainly studied his work.

Roger van der Weyden died at Brussels on the 18th of June 1464.
He left several children. One of them, Peter, followed his father's
calling; another, Corneille, after having made his studies at the
University of Louvain, became a monk in the Carthusian Priory
which the burghers of Brussels had recently founded at Scheut, by
Anderlecht.

'THE MARTYRDOM OF SAINT ERASMUS'

BY DIERICK BOUDTS, AT SAINT
PETER'S, LOUVAIN.
 Click to view larger image.

Dierick Boudts

Dierick Boudts was born a few years later than Van der Weyden;
the exact date of his birth is unknown, but it cannot have been much
before 1420. He was a native of Haarlem, where at this time there
was a flourishing school of painters noted for their beautiful
landscape backgrounds, and for the care with which they executed
their drapery. His father, who was also named Dierick, was one of
them, and it was doubtless in his workshop that young Dierick
Boudts received his artistic education.

For some reason or other, about the year 1445, he migrated to

Louvain, where he soon found a wife in the person of Catherine van
der Bruggen, the daughter of a well-to-do burgher family, who
presently gave him three girls, who became nuns; two boys, Dierick
and Albert, who followed their father's calling, and a large house in
the Rue des Récollets—site now occupied by the Jesuit Church—
which she inherited at the death of her parents (December 17, 1460).
Here Dierick and his family took up their abode, and here it was that
he painted his four most famous pictures—'The Last Supper' and
'The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus' at Saint Peter's, Louvain, and 'The
Iniquitous Sentence of Otho' and 'Otho repairing his Injustice' in the
Brussels Gallery.

Dierick was commissioned to paint the first two in 1464 by the

rich confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament of Louvain, for Saint
Peter's, where the brethren of the confraternity had two altars; the
pictures were finished in 1468, and the quittance which the artist
gave for the money he received for them is still in existence; and
note, he signs his name not Dirk nor Thiery, as modern writers often
style him, but Dierick Boudts. The Saint Erasmus altar-piece is a
triptych; the central panel shows the martyrdom scene, the Gospel
wing Saint Jerome and the Epistle wing an abbot, perhaps Saint
Bernard. All three panels are still at Saint Peter's. The other altar-
piece also had originally wings; on these were painted the First
Celebration of the Passover, Elijah fed by Ravens, the Meeting of
Abraham and Melchisedek, and the Israelites gathering Manna: the
first two are now in the Berlin Gallery, and the others in the
Pinakothek at Munich. The subject of the central panel is the Last
Supper, and it still adorns the church for which it was painted.

The execution of these important works made Dierick's name

famous. Hardly were they completed when the city fathers bestowed
on him the honorary title of Portraiteur de la Ville, and commissioned
him to paint for the Town Hall a triptych representing the Last
Judgment, and four great panel paintings to be hung in the Justice
Chamber, for the whole of which they agreed to pay him 500 florins.
The triptych was finished in 1472; it has unhappily disappeared. Two
years previously he had set to work on the first of the four panels,
and shortly afterwards he received a visit from the city magistrates,
who were so pleased with what he had done that they made him a
present of wine of the value of 96 placken. The next thing we know of
Dierick Boudts is that he lost his wife in 1472 or thereabout, and that
shortly afterwards he married Elizabeth van Voshem, who was the
widow of a rich butcher, and, as we have already seen, the sister-in-
law of the glass painter Rombold Kelderman. By this lady he had no
offspring, his union with her was not a long one. In the early spring
of 1475 he seems to have been in enfeebled health, for on the 18th of
April he chose the place in which he wished to be buried—beside his
first wife, in the Church of the Récollets, and on the same day he
made his will, which is still preserved. He left to Elisabeth Voshen all
his real property, all his outstanding debts, and all his completed
pictures; to each of his three daughters a trifling monthly allowance;
and to his two sons a silver cup—the only thing, he says, which he
himself had inherited from his father—the implements of his craft,
and all his unfinished pictures, and before the summer was out he
had gone the way of all flesh. Only two of the Town Hall paintings
were completed. Dierick, indeed, had not had time even to begin the
others, and presently the question arose, how much of the 500 florins
was due to his executors? Whether there was any dispute about the
matter we do not know, but it would seem that such was the case, for
three years had elapsed before the account was settled, and at last the
city fathers had had recourse to expert advice. We learn from the
town accounts of 1478 that the sum of 376 florins 36 placken was in
that year paid to Dierick's sons, and that this amount was the value
of the pictures as estimated by 'the most notable painter in this land
—to wit, he who was born in the city of Ghent, and now resideth in
the Rooden Clooster, in Zuenien'—without doubt Hugo van der Goes,
who had donned the cowl at Rouge Cloître two years before; and we
learn, too, from the same source, that this man, during his sojourn in
Louvain, lodged at the sign of The Angel, and that the city
magistrates offered him a pot of Rhine wine.

The pictures in question were duly hung in the Justice Chamber,

and they remained there till 1827, when they were sold to the King of
the Netherlands for 10,000 florins. In 1861 they were repurchased by
the Belgian Government for 28,000 francs, and placed in the Brussels
Gallery, where they still remain (Nos. 3C and 3D).

These two pictures and the pictures above men tioned of Saint
Peter's, of Munich, of Berlin, are, of all the works attributed to
Dierick Boudts, the only ones whose authenticity is incontestable.
Some of the rest are most probably genuine, more, perhaps, than in
the case of pictures attributed to Van der Weyden, for Boudts had a
peculiar style of his own, which is more distinctive than Roger's.

Several of the pictures formerly attributed to Dierick Boudts are

now generally believed to be the work of his son Albert, notably the
'Last Supper,' in the Brussels Gallery (No. 3F). As for Dierick Boudts
the younger, no picture painted by him has as yet been identified.
His name appears again and again in the town accounts of his native
city in connection with fines for brawling, he was born in 1448, and
died before 1491, and this is all that we know of him.

Hugo van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes was probably a native of Ghent, and if, as
Van Mander says, he was a pupil of John van Eyck, who died in 1441,
he must have been born somewhere about the year 1420. Be this as it
may, his work bears witness that he was more deeply impressed by
the great Bruges master than any other of the Flemish primitives. He
was certainly at Ghent in 1465, and henceforth this town was his
home until 1476, when, following the example of his brother, the
only one of his kinsmen of whom we have any knowledge, he
became a monk of Rouge-Cloître, near Brussels.
 Why this sudden flight from the world? Grief, suggests
Alphonse Wauters,40 at the loss of a wife. It is a mere conjecture; we
do not even know for certain that Hugo was ever married. Van
Mander tells how, when he was still a vry gheselle—that is, a bachelor
—hence, notes Wauters, it follows that he presently ceased to be such
—he painted on a wall, over a chimney-piece in her father's house at
Ghent, the portrait of the woman he loved, in the guise of Abigail
coming forth to meet David.

'N'y a-t-il pas là un doux souvenir d'un triomphe remporté par

l'amour et couronné par l'hymen? L'allégorie me semble évident.'
Thus Wauters; and he continues: 'Après avoir aimé avec ardeur et
avoir obtenu la main de sa maîtresse, il aura été frappé au cœur par
la mort de sa compagne et se sera réfugié dans la solitude pour y
vivre de souvenirs et de regrets.' The story as it stands is a pretty
one, but one cannot help remembering that David's Abigail was a
rich and perhaps an elderly widow, and that immediately after his
marriage with her he took a second wife. Moreover, the assumption
that Hugo married the lady whose portrait he painted is a wholly
gratuitous one; Van Mander does not even as much as hint that such
was the case.

But if we have no certain information as to the motives which

inspired the great Ghent painter to don the cowl, we have an
authentic and detailed account of his life in the cloister, and of the
terrible misfortune which there embittered his last days. It was
written by a monk of Rouge-Cloître who knew Hugo well, and the
manuscript was discovered some fifty years ago by Alphonse
Wauters himself. It is a very curious document; and note, the writer
makes no mention of Hugo ever having been a married man. And if
this had been so, from the nature of his narrative he would have
been almost certain to have said something about it.

'In the year of Our Lord 1482 died Brother Hugo, a lay brother
professed in this monastery. He was so famous a painter that on this
side the mountains, in those days, his like was not to be found. He,
and I who write these things, were novices together. At the time of
his clothing and during his novitiate, Father Thomas, our prior,
allowed him many mundane consolations of a nature to incline him
rather to the pomps of this world than to the way of humility and
penance; and this was by no means pleasing to some, who said that
novices should not be exalted, but, on the contrary, put down. And
because he was so excellent a painter, great folk were wont to visit
him, and even the most illustrious Archduke Maximilian himself; for
they ardently desired to behold his pictures, and Father Thomas
allowed him to receive them in the Guest Chamber, and to feast with
them there. Some five or six years after his profession it so happened
that Brother Hugo made a journey to Cologne along with his
brother, Brother Nicholas, an oblate here, and Brother Peter, canon-
regular of Trone, then residing in the Jéricho41 at Brussels, and
several others. One night, on the way home, as I learned at the time
from Brother Nicholas, our Brother Hugo was seized by a strange
mental derangement, which caused him to cry out continually that
he was damned and condemned to eternal perdition; and he would
fain have laid violent hands on himself, and would certainly have
done so had he not been, but with difficulty, restrained by the aid of
some who were standing by. And thus the last stage of that journey
was not a cheerful one. 'Albeit, having obtained assistance, they
presently reached Brussels, and forthwith summoned Father
Thomas, who, when he had seen Brother Hugo and had heard all
that had taken place, suspected that his malady was similar to that
which vexed King Saul, and, calling to mind how that monarch had
been soothed by David's harping, he caused not a little music to be
played in the presence of our brother, and strove also to divert him
by various spectacular performances; but in vain: he kept on crying
out that he was a son of perdition, and in this sorry plight they
brought him to Rouge Cloître. The kindness and attention with
which the choir brethren watched over him by night and by day,
anticipating all his wants and always striving to console him, these
things God will never forget. But false reports were spread abroad,
and by great folk too, that such was not the case.

'As to the nature of the malady with which Brother Hugo was
afflicted, opinion was divided. Some said he was mad, others that he
was possessed (he had symptoms of each of these troubles), but
throughout his illness he never attempted to injure anyone but
himself; and this is not the wont of lunatics nor of men possessed by
devils, and therefore what it was, I believe, God only knows.

'Now the trouble of our monk painter (pictoris conversi) may be

regarded from two points of view. Let us say, in the first place, that it
was natural—a peculiar form of mania; for there are various kinds of
madness produced by various causes—improper food, strong drink,
worry, grief, fear, too great an application to books, and, in fine, a
natural predisposition to the same. So far as concerns emotions, I
know for a certain fact that Brother Hugo was greatly troubled as to
how he should finish his pictures, for he had so many orders that it
was currently said it would take him full nine years to execute them;
and also he very often studied a certain Flemish book. As to wine, I
fear he indulged too freely, doubtless on account of his friends.
These things may gradually have produced the malady with which
he was afflicted. But, on the other hand, it may have been brought
about by the kind providence of God, who desires that no man
should perish, but that all should be brought to repentance.

'Now Brother Hugo, on account of his art, had been greatly

exalted in our order, and, of a truth, he had become more famous
than if he had remained in the world, and, because he was a man like
the rest of us, perchance his heart was puffed up on account of the
honours bestowed on him, and the divers visits and the homage
which he had received; and that God, in order to save his soul, sent
him this humiliating infirmity, by which, of a truth, he was greatly
abased. He himself, understanding this when he had recovered his
senses, humbled himself exceedingly: of his own free will he left our
table and meekly took his meals with the other lay brethren.'

How long a time Hugo lived after he had recovered his reason
his biographer does not say, nor does he tell us any of the details of
his death or of his burial. After again enlarging on his skill in
painting, and after some further notes on the origin of madness and
a long theological disquisition, he simply says, 'Sepultus est in nostro
atrio, sub divo.' He was buried in our cloister, in the open air.

Though Brother Hugo had been in his lifetime so famous a

painter, he was soon forgotten, and Van Mander, who wrote at the
beginning of the sixteen hundreds, could not even say when or
where he died.

Of his grave, which was probably removed or broken when the

Church of Rouge-Cloître was rebuilt during the first half of the
fifteen hundreds, no relic remains but the text of a doubtful epitaph
—

Pictor Hugo van der Goes

humatus hic quiescit
Dolet ars, cum similem
sibi modo nescit.

Of all the works of Hugo van der Goes there is only one whose
authenticity has as yet been established—

THE WINGS OF THE SAINT ANNE

TRIPTYCH BY QUENTIN METSYS, IN
THE BRUSSELS GALLERY.
Shut.
Click to view larger image.
a beautiful triptych which he painted before 1476 for Thomas
Portinari, the agent of the Medici family in Bruges, and which
Thomas afterwards presented to the Hospital of Santa-Maria-Nuova,
at Florence, where it still remains. Amongst the pictures attributed to
him with more or less probability, note in the Municipal Gallery of
Bruges La Mort de la Sainte Vierge, which, in the opinion of Mr. Weale,
is undoubtedly genuine; and in the Musée des Beaux-Arts at
Brussels the Sainte Famille (No. 36), which may or may not be his.

Quentin Metsys

Quentin Metsys, the son of old Josse Metsys, the metal worker of
Louvain, was born in that city in 1466. Like his elder brother, Josse
II., whose acquaintance we have already made, he was a man of
many parts. By trade, of course, he was a painter, but he by no means
confined himself to this craft; he made designs for wrought iron, and
carried them out too—witness the exquisite well cover by the great
porch of Antwerp Cathedral. He was also an accomplished musician,
busied himself with wood engraving, and dabbled, it is said, with
some success in Flemish letters.

It was doubtless as his father's assistant that he learned how to

forge iron; and there is a romantic story that before he became a
painter he was himself a metal worker by profession, and only
relinquished this calling for the sake of the woman he loved, whose
father would never consent to her marriage with a smith—a most
improbable tale, for in the days of Quentin's youth the craftsman
who wielded the hammer was quite as good a man as the craftsman
who handled the brush.
 Molanus asserts that Quentin Metsys was a pupil of Roger van
der Weyden—manifestly an error, for the latter died two years before
Quentin was born. It is perfectly possible, however, that he was the
pupil of Roger's son, Peter van der Weyden. However this may be, he
must have completed his apprenticeship before 1491, for at this time
he was already inscribed in the Guild of Saint Luke at Antwerp, and
seems to have already made for himself a certain reputation, for
when we first hear of him at Antwerp he was married and settled in
a house of his own in the Rue des Tanneurs. None of his works,
however, of this period have come down to us. The earliest of his
authentic pictures which we possess—the 'Burial of Christ,' now in
the Antwerp Gallery—was not painted till 1508, and the next—the
'Legend of Saint Anne,' now at Brussels (No. 38)—dates from the
following year; it is signed on the third panel, 'Quinte Metsys schreef
dit, 1509.' These two grand triptyches are undoubtedly his chefs-
d'œuvre. The first was painted for the Carpenters' Company of
Antwerp, the second for the Confraternity of Saint Anne at Louvain.
They are remarkable, like all the earlier works of this painter, for the
delicacy of their execution, their elaborate detail, their strange
luminous tints. Though Quentin's palette was a rich and varied one,
his pictures have not the same mellow glow as the pictures of several
of his predecessors—of those of Dierick Boudts, for example; and if
his figures are less stiff than theirs, they are also less spiritual. He
stands, as it were, at the parting of the ways; his creations, indeed,
reflect the sublime beauty of Hubert van Eyck, of Memling, of Roger
van der Weyden, but at the same time, they seem to foreshadow the
voluptuous splendour of Rubens and of Jacques Jordaens.

Quentin Metsys did not confine himself to sacred subjects. He

portrayed also intimate scenes of civil life—merchants in their
counting-houses, bankers, money-changers, and so forth. The most
famous of

THE WINGS OF THE SAINT ANNE

TRIPTYCH BY QUENTIN METSYS, IN
THE BRUSSELS GALLERY.
Open.
Click to view larger image.

these works is in the Louvre; it was painted in 1519. In this kind of

painting, however, he had many imitators, and most of the tableaux
de genre attributed to him are not his. He also excelled in portraiture.
One of his best patrons for works of this kind was Peter Œgidius,
whose likeness he painted several times. One of these Peter
presented to Sir Thomas More, along with a likeness of their friend
Erasmus, also Quentin's work, and More acknowledged the gift in a
set of Latin verses. 'If future ages,' he said 'retain the least taste for
the fine arts, if hateful Mars does not triumph over Minerva, what
will not be the price of these pictures in days to come.' They are
possibly still in existence. The portraits of Erasmus and Œgidius in
the Longford Gallery, near Salisbury, formerly attributed to Holbein,
are now generally ascribed to Quentin Metsys, and the portrait of
Erasmus at Hampton Court, and that of Œgidius at Antwerp, are
now also commonly believed to be his work. 'Si ce ne sont pas les
originaux,' notes M. A.-J. Wauters, 'ce sont deux excellentes copies du
temps.'42

Quentin Metsys was twice married, and he was the father of

thirteen children, of whom at least two, John and Corneille, followed
his calling, and are represented in the Brussels Gallery. He seems to
have been socially inclined, and as he earned a considerable income,
and his second wife was rich, notwithstanding his large family he
was able to entertain his friends, amongst them Œgidius, Erasmus,
More, Albert Dürer, Holbein, Luke Leyden. He was still a
comparatively young man when he died at his own house at
Antwerp in 1530. They laid him to rest in the cathedral, hard by the
great porch, and a hundred years after his death the city erected a
sumptuous monument to his memory, which has long since
disappeared. He was the last of the Flemish masters who to the end
remained faithful to the traditions of the old national school.

Bernard van Orley

 Everard, Lord of Orley, was a knight of Luxembourg, attached
to the Court of Duke John IV. of Brabant, or maybe in the service of
his brother, Count Philip of Saint-Pol. Like most of his race and class,
his pedigree was in all probability much longer than his purse; at all
events, he did not think it beneath him to marry middle-class money.
Mistress Barbara, the lady of his choice, was a member of an
illustrious burgher family famous in the annals of Brussels: she was
the near kinswoman, perhaps the daughter, of Alderman Jan Taye,
whose acquaintance we have already made, and she gave her hand
to the Lord of Orley somewhere about the year 1425. The issue of this
marriage was a son, whom his parents christened Jan, and who,
when he had reached man's estate, was enrolled in the lignage called
Sleuws—that is, of the Lion—the same lignage, it will be
remembered, to which Everard T'Serclaes belonged. In due course he
married, and with his mother's wealth and privileges, and his
father's name and title, doubtless he was held in high esteem by a
large circle of friends; but the lasting fame of the house of Van Orley
was built on another foundation: it was the result of Jan's intimacy
with a lady, name unknown, who was not his wife, and who in the
year 1468 presented him with a son—Valentine van Orley, the father
of Bernard van Orley, and the first of a long line of painters who
throughout no less than six generations practised their art in
Brussels. The last of them was John van Orley, who died in 1735.

The register of the Brussels Guild of Saint Luke has disappeared,

and thus it is impossible to say who
 THE CENTRAL PANEL OF THE SAINT
ANNE TRIPTYCH BY QUENTIN METSYS,
IN THE BRUSSELS GALLERY.

Click to view larger image.

was Valentine's master. He probably made a reputation early, for

when he was only twenty-two years of age he took to himself a wife,
one Marguerite van Pynbroeck. The wedding was celebrated at Saint
Gudila's on the 13th of May 1490. In 1512 he seems to have received
an important order from Antwerp, for in that year he left Brussels for
the city on the Scheldt, and was admitted a free master of the local
Guild of Saint Luke; and as he received several apprentices during
his sojourn there, he must have remained in Antwerp some years.
We find him again in Brussels in 1527, and this is all that is at present
known of Valentine van Orley, save that he had several sons who
were painters, and several daughters whose husbands followed the
same calling.

If any of Valentine's pictures have come down to us, they have

not as yet been identified. He must have painted a considerable
number in the course of his career, and it is not likely that they have
all perished. In the churches and convents of Belgium and in the
various public and private collections throughout Europe there are a
host of Flemish 'primitives' catalogued inconnu. It may well be that
amongst them are some of Valentine's works; and note, not a few of
these anonymous paintings are quite as beautiful as some of the
authentic pictures of the greatest masters of the period. Take, for
example, in the Brussels Gallery, the strangely pathetic and
gloriously coloured Passion scenes of the triptych of Oultremont
(No. 537); or the 'Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian' (No. 3E), attributed
to Memling and to Dierick Boudts; or the 'Adoration of the Magi'
(No. 20), which John van Eyck, Peter Christus and Gerard David are
all said to have painted; or the Saint Gudila triptych, Le Christ pleuré
par les saintes femmes (No. 40), which some very eminent critics
ascribe to Bernard van Orley, and in which others equally eminent
find no trace of his style; or the 'Virgin and Child' (No. 21),
successively given to Hubert van Eyck, Peter Christus, and Quentin
Metsys. In a former edition of his catalogue, Monsieur A. J. Wauters
wrote against this picture, 'Magnifique ouvrage de l' École de Bruges.'
He would have been on surer ground had he been content with the
first two words of this sentence. It is certainly a magnifique ouvrage,
and no more and no less can be aptly said of any of the above-
mentioned pictures.
 But to return to the house of Van Orley. The greatest painter
which that house produced—the giant who made pigmies of the rest,
was Valentine's second son, Bernard, who, as his parents were only
married in the spring of 1490, cannot have been born much before
1493. Of his life before 1515 nothing is certainly known. At this time
he was settled in Brussels, and had already made a name, for in 1515
he painted a triptych for the oratory of the Holy Cross in the Church
of Saint Walburge at Furnes, for which he received 104 livres parisis
(the central panel of this altar-piece is now at Turin); and in 1515 or
1516 he painted the portraits of the children of Duke Philippe le
Beau, and also the portrait of his son-in-law, Christian II. of
Denmark. These pictures have not come down to us, or at least they
have not been identified; but, doubtless, they were all that could be
desired, for shortly after their completion Marguerite of Austria,
whom Charles Quint on the eve of his departure for Spain had
named Regent of the Netherlands, appointed Orley Court painter;
and if they were anything like the portrait which he painted two
years later of Georges Zelle—now in the Brussels Gallery (No. 42)—
they must have been singularly beautiful. This picture is signed and
dated 1519.

Orley was now married and living with his wife, Agnes
Zeghers, in a house on the Senne, hard by the old Church of Saint
Géry; and Zelle, who was town physician and chief medical
attendant to the Hospital of Saint John—an institution which was
founded in the twelve hundreds, and which still exists—was his
friend and near neighbour. Here there is an unsigned picture, dated
August 11, 1520—subject, the 'Death of Our Lady'—which, tradition
says, is Van Orley's work. The same year that he painted the portrait
of Georges Zelle, Orley was commissioned by the Aumoniers of
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