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It has been called “the most influential painting ever” and “the world’s most coveted masterpiece”. It is also the most frequently stolen. And now, after a four-year restoration to clean away six centuries of dirt and varnish, the Ghent Altarpiece looks the way it did originally – electric, radiant, gorgeous and glorious.
The altarpiece, also known as The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, was unveiled in St Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent, today. The work, in its entirety or just in part, has been stolen six times, and found itself at the centre of no fewer than 13 crimes and mysteries, several of which remain unsolved – until now, that is, thanks to the restoration.
The altarpiece was likely begun by Hubert van Eyck in 1426, but he died that year so there has always been a question over whether any of his hand survives in the work. It was completed by his younger brother, Jan, and rapidly became one of the most famous artworks in the world, a point of pilgrimage for educated tourists and artists, something it continues to be today.
Its fame has not always been a positive thing. Just about anything bad that could happen to an artwork has befallen this altarpiece. It was stolen during the Napoleonic wars, the first world war and the second, barely rescued before being all but blown up by a renegade SS officer while being stored in a secret salt mine in Austria.
It has been the object of suspected forgeries, was nearly destroyed in the 16th century by iconoclasts, and was sold illegally by an errant vicar. In 1934, one of its 12 panels was stolen and has never been recovered.
The altarpiece’s enormous influence is down to several factors. This was the first major oil painting to fully showcase the capabilities of the medium, oil allowing far more subtlety than egg-based tempera paints.
It revels in artistic realism, from identifiable plants and highly detailed portraits (right down to Adam’s nostril hair), to reflections in a horse’s eye and light refracted through a ruby. Continue reading
Source and Image
The Guardian, article by Noah Charney
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