Seeking Ghent’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb

 

Seeking Ghent’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb

                  Travel and a good tale in a single destination is a dream come true. Ghent, Belgium, owes its settlement to the fact that it is located at the juncture of the rivers Scheidt and Lys. The name itself is a form of the Celtic word “ganda,” meaning confluence. The first permanent settlement dates from 406 and by the Middle Ages it had grown wealthy from trade and textiles. 

                  Ghent is notable as one of the most historic and beautiful cities in Europe filled with architecture that will take your breath away and artistic treasures that are unique. Everything about Ghent is extraordinary, especially the manner in which the medieval and the modern blend and flow together seamlessly. Our search for Hubert and Jan van Eyck’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, and the stories surrounding it, will take us throughout the city and into some surprising places.

                   Our Ghent search is best begun in the Historium. There we embark on an experiential walk through a day in 1435 as seen through the eyes of one of van Eyck’s apprentices. Visitors walk through a series of galleries that spring to life with the aid of modern technology incorporating life-sized dioramas, sight, smell, sound and visuals. In Jan van Eyck’s studio we meet him, see how his workshop functioned and watch as he paints The Madonna of Canon van der Paele. A trip through the Historium gives you an idea of the era and how paintings were accomplished in the workshop of a master artist.

                  The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, aka the Ghent Altarpiece, is actually the work of both Hubrecht (Hubert) and Jan van Eyck. Evidence proves that Hubert began the work and upon his death it was completed by Jan, at the 1432 request of Joos Vijd, and placed in a chapel in the Church of Saint John, currently the Cathedral of St. Bavos. It was dedicated on May 6, 1432 and this monumental polyptich was painted on oak panels with mineral pigments. Jan is best known as the artist who perfected the use of oil paints and this is considered his ultimate work. Internationally it is known as one of the most important artworks in the world, one of the first painted altarpieces and the most stolen.

 The work has been involved in no less than seven thefts because of its beauty and religious significance. Twelve panels depict Catholic beliefs, some from the Book of Revelations, starting with the Annunciation and proceeding to the adoration of the Mystic Lamb, symbolic of the blood sacrifice of Christ. Almost from the beginning the work was so famous that there was a fee to see it. 

The frames of van Eyck’s works, unlike other painters of the era, were signed and dated. A quatrain discovered on the frame in 1823 confirmed the fact that Jan completed the work after the death of Hubert. On the bottom of one panel there is a chronogram, words symbolizing numbers, that reveal the date the work was undertaken, May 6, 1432.

The Mystic Lamb was on view until 1566 when it was hidden in a tower to protect it from revolting Protestants. In 1794 the main panels were removed to Paris for Napoleon and not returned for 21-years. Some of the side panels were sold in 1816 and the remainder of this great artwork barely missed being destroyed by fire 6-years later and finally in 1920 it was reconstructed. 

         The trail and the tale become even more intriguing with the April 11, 1934 theft of two panels featuring "The Just Judges"and "St. John the Baptist.” A $1-million ransom was demanded and “St. John the Baptist” was returned as proof that the panels were really in this person’s possession. Shortly thereafter Arsène Goedertier, a stockbroker, suffered a heart attack and as he was dying he claimed to know where the painting was. The authorities found incriminating information but never located the “Just Judges.” 

The case is still an active investigation and the police continue to apply emerging crime solving techniques. In a macabre turn an amateur investigator disinterred Goedertier's skull in 1995 in order to hold a séance to gain information concerning the heist. 

                  During WWI neutral Belgium was invaded by Germany on August 4, 1914. They managed to resist for 11-days but were ultimately overwhelmed. Germany invaded the country again at the start of WWII on May 10, 1940. Hitler was set on obtaining the Ghent Altarpiece from the start of the war and in July 1942 he ordered that it be surrendered. It was secreted within the Reich awaiting its removal to Hitler’s planned Führermuseum containing art confiscated from the conquered countries.

                  The US created the American Committee on the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas in 1943. The Monuments Men and women were supplied with lists of stolen artworks to trace and return to the owners. In 1944 they were given photographs of the altarpiece and were informed that the painting was hidden in an Austrian salt mine. On May 12, 1945 they recovered The Mystic Lamb and more than 6,500 additional works. Because of its importance to the world in 1946 It was the first artwork to be returned. 

                  Located outside of the cathedral is Ghent’s 1913 homage to Hubert and Jan van Eyck. The sculptural monument is a carved diorama depicting a number of people gathered to pay tribute to the artists. The brothers are seated in the center with Hubert, the elder, reading the Bible with the tools of his trade at his feet. Jan looks forthrightly ahead while holding his palette and brushes. 

The Caermersklooster, Ghent Cultural Center, was originally a Carmelite friary that is now exhibition space. Both permanent and temporary exhibits are presented in the center. STAM, the Ghent City Museum’s highlights include a panoramic view of the city and a maquette of Ghent on a 1:1000^th scale. The city’s story is told from the 1400s.

The Ghent Altarpiece has undergone damage, theft and restoration over the course of its 589-year history and in 2012 the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage Museum of Fine Arts began a state-of-the-art $1.4-million-euro ($110-million) restoration. One panel was restored at a time and a replica was exhibited in its place. The work was completed in 2020.

We have reached the end of our search. The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb is on exhibit, for a small fee, once again housed in St. Bavos Cathedral. The cathedral is not the first house of worship on the site. The earliest church dates from 942 but the earliest archeological evidence on-site is a 12^th-century Roman nave that is within the crypt. The structure was started in the 1300s and was completed in 1559. It is virtually a museum of ecclesiastical art.

The 16.5-ft. by 11.15-ft. Ghent Altarpiece is awe-inspiring from the moment you enter the room. Audio guides are available and interpret each individual panel. Moving to the rear of the painting you can obtain a view of the additional panels that were only visible when closed. Of special note is the humanistic gaze of the lamb. There is limited seating for contemplation.

Ghent is charming by day but by night it becomes spectacular. The historic center is illuminated with special architectural lighting until midnight each evening giving the city a glow that will linger in your memory. #visitFlanders  #visitGhent

 

Unique Philadelphia Museums

“Follow your eyes to wherever they lead you…and the world should begin to change for you.”

                  The nine Muses were goddesses of the Ancient Greeks charged with inspiring those with all forms of artistic ability to attain ever more greatness. Their parents are Zeus, King of the Gods, and Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory. The basis for our current word museum is Museion, the place of the Muses.” Alexandria, Egypt was the site of the most renowned museion and the famed library.

                  The earliest, documented, public museum predates the Alexandrian structure by more than 1,000-years. In Ur, believed site of the birth of the People of the Book’s patriarch Abraham, 2,500-years ago Princess Ennigaldi-Nanna established a museum. She was a priestess who was in charge of educating the younger women and she founded her museum in 530 BC within the palace compound. The empire, and her museum, ended circa 500 BC. mymodernmet.com/ennigaldi-nanna

                  In 1925 English archaeologist Leonard Wooly located and began excavating the complex ruins and located some of the displays from the museum. Also unearthed were the world’s first museum labels. Ennigaldi-Nanna had curated the artifacts, some dating from as early as 2600 BC, with etched clay cylinders in three languages, describing the displayed article. Wooley is credited with excavating as many as 35,000 objects. 

                  Museums are commonly an outgrowth of an individual’s private collection that is gifted or bequeathed to showcase. Ennigaldi-Nanna’s father, Nabonidus, king and archaeologist and King Nebuchadnezzar II’s collections were the foundation of her museum. The Philadelphia museums in this article are the results of personal tastes and a desire to expose the public to what they love. Philadelphia boasts nearly 100 museums but the three highlighted should not be missed.

The Mütter Museum of medical history, part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, was established with an 1858 donation from Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter. It was initially on Locust Street but was relocated, with original display cases, in 1909 to 19 S. 22^nd Street. Mütter was the chair of surgery at Jefferson College and pioneered both plastic surgery and the use of anesthesia. He died at the age of 48 and gifted his massive collection of antique medical tools, models, anatomical specimens and bodies, along with $30,000 ($1,135,339.02) to erect and maintain a building, to the College of Physicians. The museum was only accessible to medical professionals until the 1970s when the public was allowed entry.

The museum is internationally famous. Highlights of the exhibited collections are slides of Einstein’s brain, an 8-ft. long and 29-inch around colon, 139 human skulls, the death cast of Siamese twins Chang and Eng and President Grover Cleveland’s jaw tumor. The collection has grown to 25,000 artifacts.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) mandates that federal agencies and institutions return Native American “cultural items” and bodies to descendants and tribes. The Mütter is in the act of returning some remains and examining their current ethical responsibilities. Muttermuseum.org

Philadelphia’s Jules E. Mastbaum’s admiration of French sculptor Auguste Rodin resulted in an unparalleled collection of his works displayed in the sole Rodin Museum not in France. Mastbaum, after making a fortune in cinema, became a serious art collector. Between 1924 and 26 he purchased more than 200 of Rodin’s works, some of which were cast personally for Mastbaum. Eventually his collection would include drawings and small pieces. In 1926 he requested permission to build a museum for the public from Fairmount Park Conservancy and received land on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. He hired architects to build a museum that blended art and the natural landscape. It opened on November 29. 

There are approximately 150 works in the Rodin collection. Featured pieces include The Eternal Springtime, Young Mother in a Grotto, Sorrow and The Thinker. The real museum showpiece is the first bronze casting of Rodin’s 37-year project, The Gates of Hell a, 20 feet 10 3/4 inches × 13 feet 2 inches × 33 3/8 inches pair of doors, depicting the human condition with more than 200 figures, is beyond striking. Rodinmuseum.org

Albert C. Barnes was born of a poor family and worked his way through the University of PA Medical School. While working as a researcher he and a partner created Argyrol, an anti-infective that made him wealthy by age 35. He bought out his partner in 1908 and as owner he integrated the workforce by race and gender, shortened his staff’s workday to 6-hours and added a voluntary educational component. Two-years later he sent two men to Paris to collect paintings. They returned with 30 paintings. He continued to collect and was the first collector to amass African works as art and not utilitarian cultural icons. He was deeply involved with the Harlem Renaissance and African American art.

He opened the Barnes Foundation in 1925 within a purpose-built neoclassical mansion with an arboretum in suburban Philadelphia. His collection grew to include Native American, American, European art as well as furnishings. His arrangements, he referred to as ensembles, of artworks blend cultures, style, genres, colors and shapes in order for viewers to connect with the art in a variety of ways. He died in 1951 and left behind his foundation and a number of rules to govern its management. No works in the collection were to be copied for retail use, the number of visitors was limited and no work was ever to be moved from its original gallery placement.

The city immediately set out to take ownership of the $25-billion collection. They moved it to a 4.5-acre site in Philadelphia. The original Barnes was replicated at the heart of the larger foundation. All of the galleries are as they were originally and no object is more than 1/2-inch from its former placement. Among the 4,000 rare artworks on display are 179 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses. Highlights not to be missed are “The Bathing Group" (Renoir), "The Dance" (Matisse), "The Card Players" (Cézanne), “The Postman” (Vincent van Gogh) and “Redheaded Girl in Evening Dress” (Modigliani).

                  Currently a special exhibition, ALEXEY BRODOVITCH: ASTONISH ME, is on view until May 19, 2024. Brodovitch was a graphic designer, instructor, illustrator, and photographer who greatly influenced the art world. @barnesfoundation