Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Carrasco, Malena

Keywords

The Mystic Lamb, van Eyck, Jan, van Eyck, Hubert, Iconography, Painting

Area of Concentration

Art History

Abstract

Arguably the most famous work produced in Flanders during the fifteenth-century, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb is a monumental polyptych painted by the brothers Jan and Hubert van Eyck. From the moment of its conception, the altarpiece has been renowned for the complexity of its iconography, the artists’ mastery of the technique of oil painting, and the extraordinarily detailed depiction of the natural world. Pilgrims, laymen, aristocrats, and royalty alike have flocked to Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent to view the work. However, the Ghent Altarpiece has also received visitors with ill intent: many of its panels have been damaged, and it is one of the most stolen artworks in the world. I have studied three separate cases involving theft or damage to the polyptych: the 1566 storming of Saint Bavo’s Cathedral by the Calvinists, iconoclasts intent the altarpiece’s destruction; the French occupation of Ghent in 1794, when the altarpiece was stolen and sent to the Louvre; and finally, in 1942, the Nazi capture of the altarpiece, during which it was restored and subsequently hidden away. The story of the altarpiece’s conservation further reinforces claims of ownership by both France and Germany. The history of the Ghent Altarpiece reveals the volatile relationship between art and politics while at the same time allowing us to trace the evolution of the painted panel from cult image to aesthetic object.

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