Ghent Altarpiece

Opened view of the polyptych.

Closed view, back panels.

The Ghent Altarpiece or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (Dutch: Het Lam Gods or The Lamb of God; completed 1432) is a very large and complex Early Flemish polyptych panel painting which is considered to be one of Belgium's masterpieces and one of the world's treasures. It was begun by Hubert van Eyck, who died in 1426 while work was underway, and it was completed by his younger brother Jan van Eyck. Commissioned by the wealthy merchant and financier Joost Vijdt for his and his wife's private chapel, in what is now known as Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, it was installed above the altar there on 6 May 1432. Later it was moved for security reasons to the principal chapel of the cathedral. The altarpiece represented a "new conception of art", in which the idealization of the medieval tradition gave way to an exacting observation of nature.

The altarpiece consists of a total of 24 framed panels, which make up two views, open and closed, which are changed by moving the hinged outer wings. The upper register (row) of the opened view shows Christ the King (but see below) between the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. The insides of the wings represent angels singing and making music, and on the outside Adam and Eve. The lower register of the central panel shows the adoration of the Lamb of God, with several groups in attendance and streaming in to worship, overseen by the dove representing the Holy Spirit. On weekdays the wings were closed, showing the Annunciation of Mary and donor portraits of Joost Vijdt and his wife Lysbette Borluut.

There used to be an inscription on the frame stating that Hubert van Eyck maior quo nemo repertus (greater than anyone) started the altarpiece, but that Jan van Eyck - calling himself arte secundus (second best in the art) - finished it in 1432. The original, very ornate carved outer frame and surround, presumably harmonizing with the painted tracery, was destroyed during the Reformation; there has been speculation that it may have included clockwork mechanisms for moving the shutters and even playing music.

The original lower left panel known as The Just Judges was stolen in 1934. The original panel has never been found and has been replaced by a copy made in 1945 by Jef Vanderveken. The stolen panel figures prominently in Albert Camus' novel La chute. In 2010 Dutch investigative journalist Karl Hammer published "The secret of the sacred panel" in which he meticulously describes the involvement of various religious groups, the Vatican and British intelligence services in their attempt to recover the lost panel.

When opened, the altarpiece measures 11 by 15 feet (3.5 by 4.6 metres).

Style and technique

Van Eyck pays as much attention to the beauty of earthly things as to the religious themes. The clothes and jewels, the fountain, nature surrounding the scene, the churches and landscape in the background- everything is painted with remarkable detail. The landscape shows an enormous richness in vegetation, much of it non-European.

Lighting plays a central role and is one of the major innovations of the polyptych. The work is infused with complex light effects and subtle plays of shadow, the rendering of which was achieved through the handling of new technique of oil paint as well as transparent glazes. The figures are mostly cast with short, diagonal shadows whcih serve to, in the words of art-historial Till-Holger Borchert, "not only heighten their spatial presence, but also tell us that the primary light source is located beyond the picture itself." In Annunciation panel of the outer panels, the shadows are depicted in a manner that implies that they eminate from the daylight within the chapel in which they are housed.

A further innovation can be found in the detaileing of surface textures, espically reflections and refractions. This is best seen in details such as effect of the fall of light on the armour in the Knights of Christ panel, and the ripple of the water in the Fountain of life from the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.

Interior Panels

The inner panels are organised into two registers or levels. The upper consists of seven panels each almost six feet high; a large central inage of christ flanked by wings showing Mary to the Left and John the Baptist to the right. The next pair outwards show groups of angles playing musical instruments. The two outermost wings show near life sized depictions of Adam and Eve naked save for fig leaves.

The lower register shows a panoramic landscape that streaches continuously across five panels. While the individual wings of the upper tier clearly contain separate individual -albeit paired- pictorial spaces, the lower tier is presented as a unified Mise en scène.

Three central figures

The Virgin Mary, Christ in Majesty and John the Baptist.

The three central upper panels show the Virgin Mary to the left and John the Baptist to the right, but the identity of the central figure is unclear and has led to much debate. Several theories include that it is Christ in Majesty , shown as a priest, God the Father, or the Holy Trinity amalgamated into a single person (the fact that the figure is wearing a triple tiara might lend some credence to this theory).

Singing angels

Angel, detail

Surrounding the three figures in the center are angels making music and singing. The clothes, the instruments and the floor are shown in remarkable detail. Hymnals of the period provided instructions on which faces to make when hitting certain notes, and through close study, art historians have been able to identify which notes each angel was singing through their facial expressions. Even the organ, where Saint Cecilia sits, was painted in such detail that modern musicologists were able to recreate a working copy of the instrument.

Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel

Adam

Eve

The two outer wings show Adam and Eve (to the left and right respectively), each facing inwards towards the figures in the central panels. They are cover themselves with leaves inidacting that they are depicted after the Fall of man. Eve holds a fruit that is not the traditional apple but a small citrus, most probably a citron (in Hebrew: Etrog), also known as an Adam's Apple. Adam's foot seems to protrude out of the frame, giving the panel a three-dimensional look.

Above them are depictions in grisaille of Abel making a sacrifice of the first lamb of his flock to God and Cain presenting part of his crops as a farmer to the Lord, and the murder of Abel by his brother Cain with an ass's jawbone because, according to the Bible, Cain was jealous of the Lord's acceptance of Abel's offering over Cain's. Van Eyck gives the figures a statuesque look, adding depth to the picture.

In the 19th century, the nakedness of Adam and Eve was considered unacceptable in a church, and the panels were replaced by reproductions dressed in skin cloth. These are still on display in the Saint Bavo Cathedral outside the Vijdt chapel.

Lower center panel

The lower front panels show the adoration of the Lamb of God, with people streaming in from all sides to worship the lamb. From the sky a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, illuminates the scene. The lamb is surrounded by fourteen angels. In the foreground the fountain of life is flowing into a small river, its bottom covered with jewels.

In the foreground to the left, we see a group of kneeling Jewish prophets holding the Bible, or their book of it. Behind them are the pagan philosophers and writers, who have come from all over the world as is shown by the Oriental faces of some, and their different types of hats and caps. The figure in white is probably Virgil, who was seen as a Christian avant-la-lettre. To the right are the twelve apostles, and behind them male saints, with the Popes and other clergy at the front. Recognizable, among others, is Saint Stephen, carrying the rocks he was stoned with. In the background we see the martyrs, men (all visible are clergy) to the left and women to the right, all carrying the martyr's palm. Some of the women are recognizable by the attributes they carry.

In the "Adoration of the Lamb" panel, nature is depicted with an attention to detail not see before in Northern European art, and far supersede what went before. Although the numerous species of plants are depiced in minuature, they are recognisable and known species, both native to North Europe and the Mediterranean, and are reproduced with a high level of botanical accuracy. Similarly, the clouds and rock formations in the distance contain degrees of accuracy that evidence close and studied observation. The landscape in the distance contains representations of actual churches, while the depiction of the mountains beyond contain the first known example in art of aerial perspective. Yet the panel does not strive for exact realism; the sum of the forensically detailed natural elements, in combination with the apparation and extended beams of light, serve to create a wholly individual and uniquely creative interpration of a classic biblical scene.

Male martyrs, all visible are clergy. Pagan writers and Jewish prophets.

The Adoration of the Lamb.

Female martyrs. Male saints, Popes at the front.

Lower side panels

Next to the central panel we see more groups of people. The two panels to the left show the "Just Judges" and the "Knights of Christ". On the right we see hermits and pilgrims, among them the giant Saint Christopher, patron saint of travellers.

The lower panel at the far left, The Just Judges, was stolen in 1934.

Copy of the Just Judges by Jef Vanderveken

The Knights of Christ.

The Hermits.

The Pilgrims.

Exterior panels

Annunciation

The Archangel Gabriel

Mary

The main register panels show the Annunciation to Mary across four panels. The two outer panels show the archangel Gabriel and Mary in what appears to be opposite ends of the same room, with two views of the same interior space as the center panels. The saints are ousized in comparison to the scale of the room, perhalps a concession to the conventions of the international gothic, or more likely a device to convey that they are heavenly apparations, as seen later in Van Eyck's c. 1424-29 Madonna in the Church. The two unoccupied panels show open windows, through which cane be seen a city scape, To the left we see the message of Gabriel, to the right the answer given by Mary. The words read Ave gracia plena d(omi)n(u)s tecu(m) (Hail, thou who art full of grace, the Lord is with you). Mary answears, Ecce ancillam d(omi)ni (Behold the handmaiden of the Lord). As in van Eyck's Washington Annunciation Maary's reply is written upside-down as if for God to read from heaven. There has been speculation as to whether the view from the round arched windows was the view from Van Eyck's workplace in Ghent; this could give us an idea where Van Eyck lived or worked.

In comparison to the inner panels, these four ancillary panels are depicted with reserve and sparseness. The areas depicted are confined and cramp the figures, the settings are earthly, pared down and simple. In these works espically, lighting is used to great effect to create an illusion of dept and make the viewer feel as if the pictorial space is influenced by the light from the chapel in which he stands.

Jodocus Vijd and Lysbette Borluut

Joos Vijdt

Lysbette Borluut

Jodocus Vijd was a wealthy merchant. The couple was childless and tried establish their legacy as patrons of this monumental painting. As is all the other panels, here Vijd and his wife are lit form light eminating from the right.

Other panels

Between the donors are Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist as statues on plinths, painted in grisaille. In the top register, the prophets Zaccariah and Micah look down from lunettes on the fulfillment of their prophecies, which are contained in Banderoles floating behind them. Between them are two sibyls, whose prophecies were also thought to have foretold the coming of Christ.

History

Six of the painting's wings were pawned in 1815 by the Diocese of Ghent for the equivalent of £240, and when the Diocese failed to redeem them, they were sold by the dealer Nieuwenhuys in 1816 to the English collector Edward Solly for £4,000. The pieces spent some months in London, during which time the new owner unsuccessfully sought a buyer. They were later bought by the King of Prussia for £16,000, a huge price at the time, and for many decades they were exhibited in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. During World War I, other panels were taken from the cathedral by German forces. As part of the war reparations in the Versailles Treaty after the end of the war, Germany returned not only the pilfered panels but also the original panels that had been legitimately acquired through Solly, as compensation for other German "acts of destruction" during the war.

The Germans "bitterly resented the loss of the panels", and at the start of another conflict with Germany in 1940, a decision was made in Belgium to send the painting to the Vatican City to keep it safe. The painting was en route to the Vatican, in France, when Italy declared war as an Axis power alongside Germany. The painting was intended to be stored in a museum in Pau for the duration of the war, as French, Belgian and German military representatives signed an agreement which required the consent of all three before the masterpiece could be moved. In 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered the painting to be seized and brought to Germany to be stored in a Bavarian castle. After Allied air raids made the castle too dangerous for the painting, it was stored in the Altaussee salt mines. Belgian and French authorities protested the seizing of the painting, and the head of the German army's Art Protection Unit was dismissed after he expressed disagreement with the seizure.

The altarpiece was recovered by the Americans following the war and was returned to Belgium in a ceremony presided over by Belgian royalty at the Royal Palace of Brussels, where the 17 panels were erected for the press. No French officials were invited to the ceremony, since the Vichy French had allowed the Germans to remove the painting to Germany.

Theft

Art historian Noah Charney describes the altarpiece as "the most frequently stolen artwork in history," the object of thirteen crimes over six centuries, including six separate thefts.

The Just Judges was stolen in 1934. Although several people have claimed to know its whereabouts, it has never been recovered and some now believe it to be destroyed. Others, though, think it will be found one day, and a number of people still look for it. It was replaced with a copy by Jef Vanderveken in 1945 but a restorer of the altarpiece noticed that the panel one day seemed to "age" compared to the panel that was familiar to him. By the end of 2010 or early 2011 the altarpiece will undergo a thorough examination which may reveal that the panel was replaced with the original after all.

Sources

References

• Borchert, Till-Holger. Van Eyck. London: Taschen, 2008. ISBN 3-8228-5687-8
• Borchert, Till-Holger. Van Eych to Durer: The Influence of Early Netherlandish painting on European Art, 1430–1530. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. ISBN 978-0-500-23883-7
• Charney Noah. Stealing the Mystic Lamb: the True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece. PublicAffairs, 2010. ISBN 1-58648-800-7
• Hammer, Karl. Secret of the sacred panel. London: Stacey international, 2010. ISBN 978-1-906768-45-4
• Harbison, Craig. "The Art of the Northern Renaissance". London: Laurence King Publishing, 1995. ISBN 1-78067-027-0
• Honour, Hugh; Fleming, John. "A World History of Art". London: Laurence King Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-8566-9451-8
• Kurtz, Michael. America and the return of Nazi contraband. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-521-84982-1.
• Pächt, Otto. Van Eyck and the Founders of Early Netherlandish Painting. 1999. London: Harvey Miller Publishers. ISBN 1-872501-28-1
• Reitlinger, Gerald. The Economics of Taste, Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices 1760-1960. London: Barrie and Rockliffe, 1961.
• Schmidt, Peter. Het Lam Gods. Leuven: Uitgeverij Davidsfonds, 2005. ISBN 90-77942-03-3
• Seidel, Linda. "The Value of Verisimilitude in the Art of Jan van Eyck". Yale French Studies: Special Issue: "Contexts: Style and Values in Medieval Art and Literature", 1991. 25-43

External links

• "Closer to Van Eyck: Rediscovering the Ghent Altarpiece". Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (Belgium). 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012. High resolution macrophotography, infrared reflectography and X-radiography of the Ghent Altarpiece.
• Website of the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent (Belgium)
• Image bank of the Flemish Reproductiefonds containing high resolution digital images of the Ghent Altarpiece made on request of Saint Bavo Cathedral
• Webmuseum, Paris: Eyck, Jan van: The Ghent altarpiece
• Jan and Hubert van Eyck: The Ghent Altarpiece - Cathedral of St. Bavon at Ghent
• The theft of the Just Judges
• An alternative interpretation of the iconography of the Ghent Altarpiece