June 12, 2021
The Ghent Altarpiece, also referred to by the subject of its central panel, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, is perhaps the most important painting in the history of art.
Remember, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them, should you want to see more detail.
It has certainly been the most frequently stolen – its seven separate thefts, dwarf the next runner-up, a Rembrandt portrait of Jacob de Gheyn, lifted from London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery on a mere four occasions.
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| Second most stolen painting. |
Over the course of five centuries the Altarpiece has been involved in 13 crimes.
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| The church where most of the history took place. It is in a private chapel today. |
Its history of disappearances is all the more amazing considering that the altarpiece consists of 12 painted oak panels with a combined weight of two tons. An enormous triptych the size of a barn wall (14.5 by 11.5 feet), it was painted for a church in the city of Ghent by the young Flemish master Jan van Eyck between 1426 and 1432. It was his first major work, and the first major oil painting in history.
THE CREATION OF A MASTERPIECE
The Ghent Altarpiece comprises 20 individual painted panels in a massive hinged framework. When it is closed only 8 of the 20 panels, which were painted on both recto and verso (front and back sides), are visible.
The subject matter of the back panels, visible when the altarpiece is closed, is the Annunciation: The angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear the Son of God. Portraits of the donors who paid for the altarpiece also grace the back.
When open, the altarpiece’s center displays a field full of saints, martyrs, clergy, hermits, righteous judges, knights of Christ, and an angelic choir, all making a slow pilgrimage to pay homage to the central figure – a Lamb on a sacrificial altar, standing proudly, while it bleeds into a golden chalice. This scene is referred to as The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.
Above the vast field of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, in the upper panels, God the Father sits enthroned, with Mary and John the Baptist on either side.
The Father’s raised hand is painted with an astonishing realism: veins bulge and tiny hairs curl out of the skin. Individual hairs were painted into his beard. Van Eyck used some brushes that were so small as to contain only a few animal hairs for bristles, permitting an entirely new level of intricacy.
The art historian Erwin Panofsky explained: through Van Eyck’s masterpiece we are privy to God’s vision of the world, capturing “some of the experience of Him who looks down from heaven, but can number the hairs on our head.”
Each of the altarpiece’s 100 plus figures have been given personalized facial features – sweat, wrinkles, veins, and flared nostrils. Viewers can make out tufts of grass, the wrinkles in an old worm-eaten apple, and warts on double chins. The trees and hedges are depicted with enough accuracy as to be identifiable to botanists.
The secret weapon that permitted such detail was oil paint. Jan van Eyck was the first artist to exploit oil’s many capabilities. Because oil paints are translucent, artists can build up layer upon layer, without covering up what lies beneath. The preferred medium before van Eyck’s time, egg-based tempera, was essentially opaque – one layer blotted out the previous one.
Paintings of this period did not contain the minute details van Eyck put in The Ghent Altarpiece. The enormous expense of the purchase of smooth, flat panels, pigments to make the paint, and the cost and time of the artist’s work was so high that only the very wealthiest individuals and institutions could commission art. It would be another 200 years before the artists began to paint “on spec,” in hopes of a sale.
What is subject of The Ghent Altarpiece? As with all altarpieces, this painting was literally meant for display above an altar, at which Mass would be performed. More than an object of beauty, it was also a meditative aid. A procession of saints moves towards the Lamb on the altar at the center of a vast field. The scenes present Christian theology, from the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-28) to The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb in the final book of the New Testament.
When the altarpiece is closed, the back is visible, illustrating the Mystery of the Incarnation. The upper register depicts the the moment that God sends the angel Gabriel to tell Mary that she will bear the Son of God (Luke 1:28-38).
The panel on the left shows the angel Gabriel with a lily in hand, a flower that symbolizes Mary’s virginity and purity. To show that Gabriel means no harm, he speaks the words of the Annunciation, which have been painted in gold onto the panel, emanating from Gabriel’s mouth: “Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord salutes you.” The room is contemporary to the painting – it is not a biblical scene.
The prophet Zechariah is above Gabriel. His messianic prophecy is a banner over his head: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout out behold, thy King cometh unto thee” (Zechariah 9:9).
Mary kneels, receiving the words of Gabriel. Her response to Gabriel’s words, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord,” is written upside down. This may seem odd, but this reply is not for us, but rather for God and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, above Mary’s head, and God gazing down at Mary, would be able to read the text.
The prophet Micah is above Mary. He predicted the coming of the Christ: “Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2).
The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descends, signaling her impregnation with the Christ. A glass decanter, with sunlight streaming through, alludes to the theological explanation for how Mary could become pregnant yet still be a virgin. If a ray of light can pass through glass without breaking it, then Mary can be a pregnant virgin.
The two upper, central panels show a view through the windows to a contemporary, but unidentified, cityscape. Two women, Old Testament female prophets, are above the room. The inscription on the banner on the left quotes from Virgil, a forecast the coming of Christ: “He speaks with no mortal tongue, being inspired by power from on high.” The other banner has a quotation from Saint Augustine: “The King Most High shall come in human form to reign through all eternity.”
A small trefoil, a window resembling a three-leaf clover, in the third window represents the Holy Trinity. Hanging in the niche is a bronze pot above a basin, a reference to the consecrated wine poured out at Mass. The towel is reminiscent of the uniforms of altar boys.
The bottom register of the closed altarpiece is also four panels across. The lower-middle panels depict Saint John the Baptist on the left and Saint John the Evangelist on the right. The Baptist holds a lamb, reminiscent of his statement when Jesus came to be baptized, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The Evangelist holds a vessel containing serpents, reminding of his Gospel’s statement, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14).
Depicted on the outside panels are the donors, who funded the painting. On the left is Joos Vijd, a wealthy, local Ghent politician. His wife, Elisabeth Borluut, is opposite him. They are painted as God made them, with none of the idealization employed by past artists, who would either “clean up” the less attractive aspects. This warts-and-all portrait realism was another of van Eyck’s great innovations.
Van Eyck’s realism emphasizes the humility of the donors who were willing to be preserved for all eternity as they truly looked, even if they were not so humble as to refrain from including themselves in the painting that they commissioned to demonstrate their wealth and piety.
There is so much more to tell in this incredible story, so I’m taking it in small pieces. And the beauty of this cruise talk, one of my favorites, is that I get to tell the story of salvation through Jesus Christ without being religious – in a scholarly manner, of course. Next week, the centerpiece: The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.
👉 Today’s close is by the Apostle John from The Revelation of Jesus, Chapter 5, the scripture that inspired Jan Van Eyke’s painting.
Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it.
Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song with these words:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and break its seals and open it.
For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
And you have caused them to become
a Kingdom of priests for our God.
And they will reign on the earth.”
Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered –
to receive power and riches
and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing.”
And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang:
“Blessing and honor and glory and power
belong to the one sitting on the throne
and to the Lamb forever and ever.”
And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb (Revelation 5:1-4 NIV).
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