The
Ghent Altarpiece or
Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
:
Het Lam Gods or
The Lamb of GodThe title Lamb of God appears in the Gospel of John, with the exclamation of John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29 when he sees Jesus....
; completed 1432) is a very large and complex
Early NetherlandishEarly Netherlandish painting refers to the work of artists active in the Low Countries during the 15th- and early 16th-century Northern renaissance, especially in the flourishing Burgundian cities of Bruges and Ghent...
polyptychA polyptych generally refers to a painting which is divided into sections, or panels. The terminology that follows is in relevance to the number of panels integrated into a particular piece of work: "diptych" describes a two-part work of art; "triptych" describes a three-part work; "tetraptych"...
panel paintingA panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel made of wood, either a single piece, or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, it was the normal form of support for a painting not on a wall or vellum, which was used for...
which is considered to be one of
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
's masterpieces and one of the world's treasures.
It was once in the
Joost Vijdt chapel at
Saint Bavo Cathedralthumb|right|225px|Sint-Baafs CathedralThe Saint Bavo Cathedral is the seat of the diocese of Ghent. It is named for Saint Bavo of Ghent....
,
GhentGhent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, Belgium, but was later moved for security reasons to the chapel of the cathedral. Commissioned by the wealthy merchant and financier Joost Vijdt for his and his wife's private chapel, it was begun by
Hubert van EyckHubert van Eyck was a Flemish painter and older brother of Jan van Eyck. He was probably born in Maaseik, Flanders, now in Belgium....
, who died in 1426 while work was underway, and completed by his younger brother
Jan van EyckJan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
. The altarpiece represented a "new conception of art", in which the idealization of the
medievalThe medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art history in Europe, and at times the Middle East and North Africa...
tradition gave way to an exacting observation of nature.
The
altarpieceAn altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
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 KingJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
(but see below) between the Virgin Mary and
John the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
. The insides of the wings represent
angelAngels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s singing and making music, and on the outside
Adam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
. The lower register of the central panel shows the adoration of the
Lamb of GodThe title Lamb of God appears in the Gospel of John, with the exclamation of John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29 when he sees Jesus....
, with several groups in attendance and streaming in to worship, overseen by the dove representing the
Holy SpiritHoly Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
. On weekdays the wings were closed, showing the
AnnunciationThe Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
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
altarpieceAn altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
, 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
traceryIn architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
, was destroyed during the
ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
; 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 JudgesThe Just Judges is the lower left panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan Van Eyck or his brother Hubert Van Eyck.As part of the altarpiece, it was displayed at the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, until stolen during the night of 10 April 1934, possibly by the Belgian Arsène Goedertier...
was stolen in 1934. The original panel has never been found and has been replaced by a copy made in 1945 by
Jef VandervekenJef Vanderveken or Jef Van der Veken was a Belgian copyist. He mastered the art of reproducing the works of Jan van Eyck and also created, with his banker's funds, the Renders Collection...
. The stolen panel figures prominently in
Albert CamusAlbert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
' 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 recuperate the lost panel.
When opened, the altarpiece measures 11 by 15 feet (3.5 by 4.6 metres).
Three central figures
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
ChristChrist is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
in triumph and shown as a priest,
God the FatherGod the Father is a gendered title given to God in many monotheistic religions, particularly patriarchal, Abrahamic ones. In Judaism, God is called Father because he is the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector...
, 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
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.
HymnalHymnal or hymnary or hymnbook is a collection of hymns, i.e. religious songs, usually in the form of a book. The earliest hand-written hymnals are known since Middle Ages in the context of European Christianity...
s 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
The upper front panels on the sides show
Adam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
(to the left and right respectively), both facing the figures in the center. They are covering themselves with
leavesA fig leaf is the covering up of an act or an object that is embarrassing or disagreeable. The term is a metaphorical reference to the Biblical Book of Genesis, in which Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover "their nakedness" after eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and...
, and Eve is holding a fruit that is not, in fact, the traditional apple but is a small citrus known as an Adam's Apple
Garden of EdenThe Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
. Adam seems to be walking out of the picture, giving it a three-dimensional look.
Above them are depictions in
grisailleGrisaille is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles in fact include a slightly wider colour range, like the Andrea del Sarto fresco...
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 CainIn the Hebrew Bible, Cain and Abel are two sons of Adam and Eve. The Qur'an mentions the story, calling them the two sons of Adam only....
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 makes the paintings look like statues, giving depth to the picture.
In the 19th century, the naked representations of Adam and Eve were considered unacceptable in a church and the panels were replaced by dressed reproductions, which are still on display in the cathedral outside the Vijdt chapel.
Lower center panel
The lower front panels show the adoration of the
Lamb of GodThe title Lamb of God appears in the Gospel of John, with the exclamation of John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29 when he sees Jesus....
, with people streaming in from all sides to worship the lamb. From the sky a
dovePigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
, representing the
Holy SpiritHoly Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
, illuminates the scene. The lamb is surrounded by fourteen angels. In the foreground the
fountain of lifeThe Fountain of Life, or in its earlier form the Fountain of Living Waters, is a Christian iconography symbol associated with baptism, first appearing in the 5th century in illuminated manuscripts and later in other art forms such as panel paintings....
is flowing into a small river, its bottom covered with
jewelA gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
s.
In the foreground to the left, we see a group of kneeling
JewishJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
prophetIn religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
s holding the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, or their book of it. Behind them are the
paganPaganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
philosophers and writers, who have come from all over the world as can be seen by the
OrientThe Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...
al faces of some, and their different types of hats and caps. The figure in white is probably
VirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, who was seen as a Christian avant-la-lettre. To the right we see the twelve apostles, and behind them male saints, with the Popes and other clergy at the front. We recognize among others
Saint StephenSaint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
, carrying the rocks he was stoned with.
In the background we see the
martyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s, 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
attributeAttribute may refer to:* In research, a characteristic of an object - see attribute * In philosophy, property , an abstraction of a characteristic of an entity or substance...
s they are carrying.
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.Saint Christopher is a saint venerated by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, listed as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd century Roman Emperor Decius or alternatively under the Roman Emperor Maximinus II Dacian...
, patron saint of travellers.
The lower panel at the far left,
The Just JudgesThe Just Judges is the lower left panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan Van Eyck or his brother Hubert Van Eyck.As part of the altarpiece, it was displayed at the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, until stolen during the night of 10 April 1934, possibly by the Belgian Arsène Goedertier...
, 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 seem 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.
Detail
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.
Annunciation
The main register panels show the Annunciation to Mary across four panels. To the left we see the message of the archangel Gabriel, to the right the answer given by Mary, which, as in
another van Eyck AnnunciationThe Annunciation is an oil painting by the Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck, from around 1434-1436. It is in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C. It was originally on panel but has been transferred to canvas. It is thought that it was the left wing of a triptych; there has...
is written upside-down for God to read. There has been speculation as to whether the view from the window was the view from Van Eyck's workplace in Ghent; this could give us an idea where Van Eyck lived or worked.
Jodocus Vijd and Lysbette Borluut
Jodocus Vijd was a wealthy merchant. The couple was childless and tried establish their legacy as patrons of this monumental painting.
Other panels
Between the donors are Saint John the Baptist and Saint
John the EvangelistSaint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
as statues on plinths, painted in grisaille. In the top register, the prophets Zaccariah and Micah look down from
lunetteIn architecture, a lunette is a half-moon shaped space, either filled with recessed masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the...
s on the fulfillment of their prophecies, which are contained in Banderoles floating behind them. Between them are two
sibylThe word Sibyl comes from the Greek word σίβυλλα sibylla, meaning prophetess. The earliest oracular seeresses known as the sibyls of antiquity, "who admittedly are known only through legend" prophesied at certain holy sites, under the divine influence of a deity, originally— at Delphi and...
s, 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 they failed to redeem them were bought from the dealer Nieuwenhuys in 1816 by the English collector Edward Solly for £4,000. After failing to find a buyer in a stay of some months in London, they were later bought by the
King of PrussiaFrederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
for £16,000, a huge price at the time, and for many decades exhibited in the
Gemäldegalerie, BerlinThe Gemäldegalerie is an art museum in Berlin, Germany. It holds one of the world's leading collections of European art from the 13th to the 18th centuries. It is located on Kulturforum west of Potsdamer Platz. Its collection includes masterpieces from such artists as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas...
. During
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, other panels were taken from the cathedral by Germany. As part of the war reparations in the Versailles Treaty after the end of the war, Germany returned the pilfered panels along with the original panels that had been legitimately bought by Solly, to help compensate 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 CityVatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
to keep it safe. The painting was
en route to the Vatican, in
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, when
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
declared war as an
Axis powerThe Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
alongside Germany. The painting was 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 HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
ordered the painting to be seized and brought to Germany to be stored in a
BavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n castle. After Allied air raids made the castle too dangerous for the painting, it was stored in a
saltIn chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
mine. 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 disagreed 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 and held 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.
Art historian
Noah CharneyNoah Charney is an American art historian and novelist. He is the author of The Art Thief, a mystery novel about a series of thefts from European museums and churches, and is the founder of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art.-Early life and education:Charney was born in New...
describes the altarpiece as "the most frequently stolen artwork in history," the object of thirteen crimes over six centuries, including six separate thefts. He also argues that it is the single most influential painting ever made.
External links