Remarkable though it is, the description of the sitter - with the stubble on his chin prickly against the soft fur collar, and his bloodshot left eye - is less arresting than the depiction of his head-dress. Van Eyck is noted for the impassivity of his figures, and it is instructive to compare this portrait with that by the Master of Flémalle (Robert Campin) of a man wearing a similar red hat. There, the scarf ends hang down, serving to frame a face in which we read force of character and upon which we can project an inner emotional life. Van Eyck 's personage gives much less away. A greater area of the picture is taken up by his red hat than by his face, its three-dimensional bulk is more assertive, it folds and tucks more dramatic. Perhaps