7 Facts About the Ghent Altarpiece

The Ghent Altarpiece, also known as The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, is a large assemblage of panel paintings called a polyptych, meaning it is attached with hinges to swing open if needed or remain closed depending on the religious significance of the calendar day. Created in the 1430s by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, it changed the history of Western art with the use of oil paints on such a large scale. After centuries of theft and destruction, it miraculously remains in its original location, Saint Bavo Cathedral.

Paintings would have been visible whether the altarpiece was open or closed. However, the inner panels, displayed on days of religious significance, were more detailed with a higher saturation of color. When closed, a scene of the Annunciation is visible in which the angel Gabriel descends from Heaven to inform the Virgin Mary of her chosen role as the mother of Christ. Below them are painted marble sculptures and representations of the patrons praying. When the altarpiece is opened, the artwork awakens and brightens the space in which it is located. The rich colors glow with a luminosity that has captivated viewers for hundreds of years.

In the top left and right panels, Adam and Eve stand naked, covering themselves with shame as they are expelled from the Garden of Eden. Besides them, angels are seen creating music similar to what would have been heard in church services at the time of its creation. On the left, the angels are singing in a choir. One angel is turning the pages of the manuscript for the rest of them, their brows furrowed in concentration as they sing. On the right, an angel plays a pipe organ. Behind him are other angels with various musical instruments, such as a golden harp or a vielle, which is a stringed instrument similar to a violin. They wear luxurious robes of damask and cloth of gold. In the middle are the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist, with God located in the highest and most central point of the altarpiece.

The Ghent Altarpiece was commissioned by Jodocus Vijd, the mayor of Ghent, in the early 1420s. Hubert Van Eyck, older brother to Jan Van Eyck, initially began the project. After Hubert died in 1426, Jan Van Eyck took over the project. He completed it in 1432, adding an inscription above the Virgin Mary commemorating his late brother for his work on the altarpiece. Though both brothers worked on the altarpiece, art historians are still determining which pieces were worked on by whom. Some theories suggest that Hubert had only done the underdrawing and Jan had filled it in with paint, while others suggest they both had a hand in painting it. It was likely that members of their workshop also contributed to the labor of its creation, so comparing the altarpiece to other works by the artists does not help establish credit in this case.

The bright colors’ luminosity was born from oil paint rather than the more typical tempera. Oil paint was translucent, allowing it to be layered to create smooth, luminescent features that mimicked real tones and textures. Though oil paint’s earliest use was first recorded in 6th-century Afghanistan, Jan Van Eyck is often credited with the invention of these paints. This is not true, though the legend stems from this altarpiece, in which the Eyck brothers stunned locals with their massive, detailed altarpiece that seemingly glowed with hyperrealism. It is considered the first great oil painting, according to the art historian Noah Charney. It caused the medium to catch on across Europe, forever changing the landscape of Western art history and causing The Ghent Altarpiece to quickly become one of the prime examples of oil paintings from the Northern Renaissance.

By the end of the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation had reached its height, resulting in iconoclasm. Iconoclasm was the Protestant rejection of religious images depicting holy figures as heretical due to the fear of the images being worshiped rather than God. It resulted in violent stormings of churches and the destruction of artworks depicting deities.

In 1599, the Netherlands was hit especially hard by the destruction of iconoclasts, including the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, where The Ghent Altarpiece was located. Militants forcefully broke into the church with a battering ram with the intention of burning the altarpiece as heretical. Thankfully, it survived due to the church’s guards, who were able to disassemble it quickly and hide it in the cathedral tower. Once the violence had settled, the altarpiece was put on display again, where it remained until the Napoleonic Wars.

4. It Was Stolen During the Napoleonic Wars

In 1794, The Ghent Altarpiece was known across Europe as one of the greatest masterpieces ever made. Napoleon had a thirst for acquisition and sent troops to take it from Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent. Four panels were taken back to France and exhibited at the Louvre Museum. However, they were diplomatically returned to Saint Bavo Cathedral in 1815 after Napoleon’s loss at Waterloo.

In the same year that the four panels stolen by Napoleon were returned, a vicar at Saint Bavo Cathedral secretly sold six of the panels when he had found himself in debt. When apprehended for his actions, he claimed that he only sold the panels that were old and damaged by worms. In reality, they were not damaged at all, and the paintings were long gone. They resurfaced in Germany under the ownership of the King of Prussia, who exhibited them at a museum in Berlin during the next century, refusing to return them to the cathedral.

During World War I, the Germans wanted the rest of the panels from Saint Bavo Cathedral to complete their collection of the altarpiece in Berlin. However, when they arrived at the church to steal the rest of the panels, they had been hidden. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles required Germany to return the six panels they had stolen over a century prior.

In 1934, thieves broke into Saint Bavo Cathedral, stealing two joined panels from the lower left corner of the altarpiece. One of the panels was left at the local train station with a ransom note asking for one million Belgian francs. When police got involved, they initially did not take it very seriously, despite it being already known as one of the world’s most famous stolen pieces of artwork. Instead, they were busy investigating a theft from nearby the cathedral at a local cheese store.

The other panel, Just Judges, remained lost. It depicted Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, or Philip the Good as he was known, on a white horse with a crowd of people behind him. Philip the Good had connections to the merchant couple who commissioned the Eyck brothers to create the altarpiece for Saint Bavo Cathedral. His inclusion tells contemporary viewers of his Christian and philanthropist values while boasting his wealth and status within the region. Behind the crowd, the cathedral is visible in the distance.

Later, a man named Arsène Goedertier would confess on his deathbed that he had information on where the lost panel was, including copies of ransom notes and another letter with a vague, cryptic clue as to where the painting could be located. The letter claimed the work “rests in a place where neither I nor anybody else can take it away without arousing the public’s attention.”

However, the police did not conclude that Goedertier was the thief, nor did they find the stolen panel.

Today, a detective is still assigned to this case, and leads are followed. Meanwhile, a copy of the panel was created during World War II, which bears such a remarkable resemblance to the original that there were once popular conspiracy theories about it actually being the original that was sneakily put back. Experts have since disproved this theory, officially declaring the copy to truly be a copy.

During World War II, shortly after the missing panel had been replaced by the detailed copy, the Nazis stole The Ghent Altarpiece one last time in an attempt to bring the altarpiece to Germany. One might assume that the main reason for Adolf Hitler wanting The Ghent Altarpiece was to bring it back to Germany, where six of the altarpiece’s panels had lived for over a century due to the internal theft of 1815. In reality, they believed that The Ghent Altarpiece was a sort of occultist treasure map pointing to the locations of relics of Christ’s passion.

7. The Ghent Altarpiece Was Stored in a Salt Mine

Despite the Nazis wanting the altarpiece for its treasure-map qualities, it ended up being stored in a salt mine. The mine was rigged with explosives so that the Nazis could blow up the mine if the Allies approached, preventing them from ever retrieving the precious artwork being stored there. Fortunately, the local salt miners, many of whom were also supporters of the Austrian resistance, were aware of what was going on in the mine and were able to disassemble the Nazis’ explosives, allowing the Allies to approach and save the artwork. The conditions of the salt mine were extremely damaging to the already fragile artwork. Experts were unsure of the altarpiece’s chance for survival, but after the extensive restoration that continues to this day, The Ghent Altarpiece was saved. It is safely located back at Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, where it is available for public viewing.