A Fonte da Vida

No one knows for certain who painted this, but everything about it points to the workshop of the Flemish master Jan van Eyck, around the middle of the 15th century. It is built like the great Ghent Altarpiece that he and his brother made, and repeats some of its ideas. God sits enthroned at the top. From beneath him a channel of clear water, the fountain of grace, runs down the panel. On the left, ranked and serene, stand the figures of the Church. On the right the figures of the Synagogue turn away, their eyes lowered or covered, in an image of Christian triumph that reads harshly to modern eyes. The panel reached Spain remarkably early. A Castilian king gave it to a monastery near Segovia, and it has stayed in the country ever since.