Saint Genevieve

When Hugo van der Goes's small diptych of the Fall of Man and the Lamentation was closed, this is what the owner saw on the outside. Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, stands in a painted stone niche, done entirely in shades of grey so that she looks like a carved statue. The technique, called grisaille, was common on the outer wings of Netherlandish altarpieces in the later 1400s. She carries a book and a candle, and a tiny devil clings to the candle. The legend says the devil blew out her candle as she went to pray at night, and an angel lit it again. In the corners above, two more scenes are squeezed in, the sacrifice of Cain and Abel and Cain killing his brother. This outer face was later separated from the panel and is now shown on its own.