Ince Hall Madonna
The Virgin and Child Reading is an oil painting of uncertain date. It is a mid-to-late 15th century imitation of the work of the Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck, possibly after a now-lost original painting by him from 1433 - another copy of the same work is now in the Colegiata church in Covarrubias, Spain. It is first documented in 1619, when it was in Sicily and then re-appeared in Charles Blundell's collection at Ince Blundell Hall near Liverpool early in the 19th century, meaning it is sometimes known as the Ince Hall Madonna. George Frederick Zink restored it there in 1922. It was acquired from the Weld-Blundell family by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne in 1922 using funds from the Felton Bequest. The inscription on the wall at top left reads: "COPLETV ANO D M CCCC XXXIIJ P IOHEM DE EYC BRVGIS". This translates as "Completed in the Year of Our Lord 1433 by Jan van Eyck, Bruges". To the right of the tapestry is van Eyck's personal motto in Greek letters "ALC IXH XAN" ("As I Can"), playing on the similarity between his surname and 'IXH' (an approximate transliteration of "ich" or "I" into