The altarpiece of the St. Bavos Cathedral in Ghent is a large, complex and famous masterpiece of 15th century Belgian art by Hubert and Jan van Eyck completed in 1432. It is often called Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, or in Flemish Lam Gods. It consists of 12 interior panels (shown below) and 5 back panels which are seen from behind or when the panels are closed. The altarpiece is considered to be one of the most well-known and important artworks in the world. It has been described as the first major oil painting. As such, it also has the dubious distinction of being the art work most stolen in world history and has had a fascinating history. It is one of the featured art works, along with the Madonna of Bruges (see above) in the Monuments Men saga.
Briefly the Monument’s Men were a cadre of mostly art historians who were commissioned by FDR in 1944 to find and rescue the famous art works that were stolen by the Nazis when they occupied Western Europe. The book and movie (directed by George Clooney) feature two art works: the Madonna of Bruges and the Ghent Altarpiece. So we coincidentally saw both pieces on this trip. Before coming, I had not heard of this important WWII story. Travel can be very enlightening!!
In 1934 two of the panels were stolen though one was returned by the unknown thief. The remaining panel “The Just Judges” (lower left of the bottom row) has never been recovered and has been replaced by a copy. The present location of the original has been a mystery with many different claims. One of the more intriguing claims is that the panel is buried at a specific point in Ghent based on words scribbled on the last of a series of ransom notes found after the death of a local. Coincidentally, there was a story about the painting in the news the morning after our visit: the Ghent fire department did a parody on the painting to raise money calling it Flam Gods (Flame of God).
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