The Cathedral of Saint Bavo in the Belgian city of Ghent is world famous for its altar, the greatest masterpiece of early Renaissance painting by the Flemish artist Jan van Eyck. Consisting of twenty-four panels depicting two hundred and fifty-eight human figures, the Ghent Altarpiece entered the history of world art as one of the most grandiose works of its era.
The Painter Brothers
The history of the Ghent altar began in 1417, when a we althy resident of the city of Ghent, Jos Veidt, ordered it to two brothers - the artists Hubert and Jan van Eyckam - for his home chapel, which later became the very Cathedral of St. Bovan, where this masterpiece is now and is located. From the documents it is known that the customer and his wife Isabella Borlut, having lived a long life together, remained childless and, realizing that after death there would be no one to pray for the repose of their souls, they tried to make up for the lack of prayers with such a generous gift.
According to the opinion of historians and art critics, the elder brother - Hubert - took part in the work only at its initial stage, therefore the authorshipThe huge work is attributed almost exclusively to his younger brother Jan. Information about his life is rather scarce. It is known that he was born in the city of Maaseik in the Northern Netherlands, but biographers find it difficult to name the exact date, believing only that this could have happened around 1385-1390.
Jan van Eyck, whose self-portrait is presented at the beginning of the article, studied painting with his older brother Hubert and worked with him until his death in 1426. It is known about his mentor that he enjoyed great success among his contemporaries as one of the best artists, but we cannot judge his works, since none of them have survived to this day. As for Jan, his talent was appreciated by the richest patron of the time - the Duke of Burgundy Philip II, who made him his court painter and did not skimp on generous fees. Jan van Eyck passed away, according to some sources, in 1441, and according to others - in 1442. It was to him that Jos Veidt turned, wishing to do good to his native Ghent.
Jan van Eyck: Ghent altarpiece. Description
The altar in question is a polyptych, that is, a huge fold, consisting of separate panels, painted on both sides. The design allows you to view it both open and closed. Its total height is three and a half, and its width is five meters. This impressive structure weighs over a ton.
The scenes depicted on the wings of the altar and its central part are a series of biblicalplots, in the form in which they are interpreted by Catholics. The viewer is presented with a series of Old Testament and New Testament paintings, starting with the fall of Adam and ending with sacrificial death and the worship of the Lamb. The overall composition also includes very realistic portraits of the client and his wife.
The Ghent altar, the photo of which is presented in this article, is a very complex design. In its upper central part there is a figure of God the Father sitting on a throne. He wears a purple priestly robe and a papal tiara. On the golden ribbon adorning the chest, you can read the word "Sabaoth" - this is the name of God the Creator of the universe. On either side of it are the figures of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. Even further on the same level, angels playing musical instruments are depicted, and, finally, along the edges, naked figures of Adam and Eve.
In the lower part there is a scene of worship of the Holy Lamb, symbolizing Jesus Christ. Processions are sent to him from four sides, consisting of both biblical characters and saints who glorified God in a later period. Among them, the figures of the prophets, apostles, great martyrs and even the poet Virgil are easily guessed. The side wings of the lower row are also covered with images of processions of saints.
Realistic images of characters
The Ghent Altarpiece, whose history of creation is connected with a private order, according to the tradition of those years, preserved on its panels the images of the people on whose money it was created. These are portraits of Jos Veidt and his wife Isabella Borlut,written in such a way that the viewer sees them only when the doors are closed. Both images, as well as the rest of the figures, are made with amazing realism and leave no doubt that we have portrait features of living people.
It should be noted that in all the works of Jan van Eyck, and there are more than a hundred of them today, the scrupulous elaboration of details is striking, especially noticeable in reproductions made using macro photography. The Ghent altar can serve as a vivid illustration of this. It is enough to look at the figure of John the Baptist to make sure that the book he holds in his hand is written in such detail that it is easy to make out individual letters on its pages. It is known that the artist, after the death of his brother, continued to refine and supplement with separate fragments the Ghent altar (1426-1442) he created for sixteen years. Jan van Eyck, this work brought to a number of the best painters of his era.
A story unparalleled
Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece has a story that could have made more than one exciting TV series. The researchers counted that thirteen crimes were associated with the masterpiece during the six-hundred-year history of the masterpiece. He was kidnapped more than once, secretly and openly taken out, tried to sell, donate, burn and blow up. It was exhibited in museums and hidden in hiding places. But fate would have it that after all the ordeals the circle of his wanderings closed in his native Ghent, where he remains to this day.
The Age of Religious Wars
After in 1432 work onthe altar was completed, he was at rest for twenty-eight years, arousing religious feelings among the parishioners. But in 1460, the small and until then calm Flanders became the scene of bloody battles between Catholics and Protestants, who entered into an irreconcilable struggle.
The Protestants won this war, which was the first serious test for the altar. The fact is, the followers of Calvin are ardent iconoclasts, and, having captured the city, they began to ruthlessly smash the Catholic cathedrals, destroying all religious images, including paintings and sculptures. The only thing that saved the altar was that it was dismantled in time and hidden in parts in the cathedral tower, where it was kept for three years.
When the passions subsided, and the wave of vandalism subsided, the winners finally discovered the Ghent altar and set out to present it to Queen Elizabeth in gratitude for the military assistance provided by the British. The relic was saved from forced immigration only by the fact that the heirs of Jos Veidt turned out to be influential people not only among Catholics, but also among their religious opponents.
With great difficulty they managed to prevent this venture. The altar did not go to England, but the Calvinists did not allow it to be kept in the cathedral either. As a result, a compromise was found - disassembled into separate fragments, he, like a collection of paintings, decorated the city hall, which was the best option for him, as it ensured safety.
In 1581, bloodshed on religious grounds began again in Ghent, but this time military luck betrayed the Protestants. Unlike the NorthernNetherlands, Flanders became Catholic. Thanks to this event, Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece returned to its original place. This time he was not disturbed for two hundred years, until Ghent was visited by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, who traveled through Europe.
Insulted chastity
This forty-year-old and not at all old man turned out to be a terrible bore and a hypocrite. His chastity was offended by the sight of the naked figures of Adam and Eve. In order not to spoil relations with such a high-ranking moralist, the doors with indiscreet images were dismantled and deposited in the house of the heirs of the previous owner.
By the way, looking ahead, it should be noted that already in a relatively recent time, in 1865, among high-ranking officials there was another champion of morality. At his request, the old images of Adam and Eve were replaced by new ones, on which the progenitors of mankind showed off dressed in some unthinkable bear-like skins.
Captured by Napoleon
The next misfortune befell the Ghent altar in 1792. The Napoleonic soldiers who were then in charge of the city unceremoniously dismantled it and sent the central parts to Paris, where they were exhibited in the Louvre. Seeing them, Napoleon was delighted and wished to have a complete set.
However, during this time the political situation has changed, and it was impossible to grab everything that you liked in a foreign country. Then he offered the authorities of Ghent in exchange for the missing parts of the altar several paintings by Rubens, but receivedrefusal. This turned out to be the right decision, because in 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, the stolen parts of the altar were returned to their rightful place in the Cathedral of St. Bavo.
Sin of the Cathedral Vicar
But his misadventures didn't end there either. A new impetus was given to them by the vicar of the cathedral. This cleric clearly had a problem with the eighth commandment of God, which says: "Thou sh alt not steal." Yielding to temptation, he stole some of the panels and sold them to the antiquary Nieuwenhös, who, together with the collector Solly, resold them to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III, who did not hesitate to exhibit the stolen items in his Kaiser Museum.
At the beginning of the First World War, the Germans, having entered Belgium, undertook a search for the remaining parts of the altar from Ghent. Fortunately, the canon of the Cathedral of St. Bavo, van den Hein, prevented the planned robbery. With his four assistants, he dismantled the Ghent altar and hid it piece by piece in a secure cache, where it was kept until 1918. At the end of the war, on the basis of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, those stolen honors that the Prussian king had bought were returned to their rightful place.
Irreparable loss
But adventures didn't always end so well. Another theft occurred in 1934. Then, under unclear circumstances, the altar leaf with the image of the procession of righteous judges disappeared. It happened on April 11, and after seven and a half months, the honorary resident of Ghent, Arsen Kudertir, lying on his deathbed, repented that it was he who committed the theft, and even indicated the place wherehid the stolen goods. However, the specified cache was empty. The missing piece was never found, and the missing piece was soon replaced by a copy made by the artist van der Veken.
On the brink of death
But the most intense period in its history is associated with the years of World War II. The Belgian fascists wanted to give Hitler a worthy present. After some deliberation, it was decided to donate the same masterpiece that Jan van Eyck had decorated their city with. The Ghent altar was once again dismantled and taken by truck to France, where it was kept for some time in the Pau castle.
Already in September 1942, the German command showed impatience and demanded to expedite the transfer of the altar to them. For this purpose, he was taken to Paris, where at that time a large batch of museum valuables was being assembled, destined for shipment to Germany. One part of the exhibits was intended for the Hitler Museum in Linz, and the other for Goering's personal collection. The altar was transported to Bavaria and placed in Neuschwanstein Castle.
He stayed there until the end of the war, until in 1945 the German command decided to bury art treasures in the abandoned mines of Salzburg. For this purpose, boxes with works of art, and among them those in which the Ghent altar was located, were hidden deep underground. However, in the spring, when the collapse of the Third Reich became inevitable, Rosenberg's headquarters received an order to destroy them.
The fate of hundreds of masterpieces was decided a few minutes before the explosion, when, after a brilliant operation, the mine was captured by the Austrianpartisans. Thanks to their heroism, many old master paintings were saved, among them the brainchild of an artist named Jan van Eyck. The Ghent altar, which miraculously escaped death, was delivered to Munich, and then went to its homeland in Ghent. However, he took his rightful place in the Cathedral of St. Bavo only forty years later, in 1986.
Museum City
Today, the relatively small Belgian city of Ghent is glorified by the names of two great artists - Charles de Coster, who painted his immortal "Til Ulenspiegel", and Jan van Eyck, who created the Ghent Altarpiece. Description of this greatest work of artistic value can be found in all guidebooks.
Ghent, which was the second largest European city after Paris until the 16th century, today has lost its former importance. Its population is only 240 thousand people. Therefore, the Belgians are trying to maintain the established image of the city-museum, the custodian of the famous altar that survived all the ages and dangers, as well as works of painters from different eras exhibited in the city museum of fine arts.
