Episode 19 - The Sum of Many Parts
The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 2
Proposed original display
from Griet Steyaert, "The Ghent Altarpiece: new thoughts on its original display," The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 157, No. 1343, Northern European art (February 2015), pp. 74-84
Photographic reproduction of the Ghent Altarpiece in the Vijd Chapel, 2014
From Kemperdick and Röẞler, 2015
Archival photograph (Friedländer Archive, RKD, The Hague) of the Annunciation panels with historic (likely not original) hardware, now lost
Reproduced in Anne van Grevenstein and Ron Spronk, Lasting Support, An interdisciplinary research project to assess the structural condition of the Ghent Altarpiece, Final project report, October 9, 2011
Historic (likely not original), now lost, hinge, photograph taken in Berlin c 1878/1891
From Kemperdick and Röẞler, 2015
Quatrain after the treatment phase completed in 2016
closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be
Quatrain before treatment, indicating where the metal braces had been attached
from Bart Fransen, Cyriel Stroo, eds., The Ghent Altarpiece: Research and Conservation of the Exterior 2020
Left to right:
Original by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, 1432, Cathedral of Saint Bavo, Ghent
Copy by Michiel Coxcie, 155i, Alte Pinakotek, Munich
Copy by Car Schulz, 1824, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
from Stephan Kemperdick and Johannes Röẞler, eds., The Ghent Altarpiece by the Brothers Van Eyck: History and Appraisal, 2015
Left to right:
Original by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, 1432, Cathedral of Saint Bavo, Ghent
Copy by Michiel Coxcie, 155i, Alte Pinakotek, Munich
Copy by Car Schulz, 1824, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
from Stephan Kemperdick and Johannes Röẞler, eds., The Ghent Altarpiece by the Brothers Van Eyck: History and Appraisal, 2015
Karl Bennewitz von Löfen the Younger, Interior of the Picture Gallery in the Altes Museum, c 1880-84
Oil on canvas
Nationalgalerie SMB,Berlin
showing the original interior wing panels and the Coxcie copy of the Mystic Lamb
Reverse of Gabiel panel, cradle added 1894
from Bart Fransen, Cyriel Stroo, eds., The Ghent Altarpiece: Research and Conservation of the Exterior 2020
Front of Gabriel, after treatment phase completed in 2016
closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be
Gerard David, Archangel Gabriel; The Virgin Annunciate, ca. 1510
Oil on oak panel, left wing: 34 1/2 x 11 5/8 in. (87.7 x 29.5 cm; right wing: 34 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. (87.6 x 30 cm)
and
Christ Carrying the Cross, with the Crucifixion; The Resurrection, with the Pilgrims of Emmaus, ca. 1510
Oil on oak panel, left wing: 34 1/2 x 11 5/8 in (87.7 x 29.5 cm); right wing: 34 1/2 x 11 3/4 in (87.6 x 30 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Ghent Altarpiece as installed in the Vijd chapel between 1865 and 1920. It comprises Eyckian central panels, Lagye's fur-clothed Adam and Eve and Coxcie's copies of the other shutters. Photograph, c.1910-13. (© Stadsarchief, Ghent)
Reproduced in Hélène Dubois, “The conservation history of The Ghent Altarpiece,” The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 160, No. 1386, (September 2018), pp. 754-765
Original (missing) Just Judges - x-radiograph, 1927
Alan Burroughs Collection of X-Radiographs, Harvard Art Museums
Straus.4876: X-radiograph(s) of "Adoration of the Lamb, Just Judges, Holy Knights"
Interior with City View with the Erythraean Sibyl above after treatment phase completed in 2016
closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be
Adam
closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be
X Radiograph of the City View/Adam panel
closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be
After the theft of April 1934
Recommended Reading
In addition to the readings of Episode 18, particularly
Hélène Dubois, “The conservation history of The Ghent Altarpiece,” The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 160, No. 1386, (September 2018), pp. 754-765
and
Stephan Kemperdick and Johannes Röẞler, eds., The Ghent Altarpiece by the Brothers Van Eyck: History and Appraisal, 2015
Alan Burroughs, Art Criticism from a Laboratory,1938
Anne van Grevenstein and Ron Spronk, Lasting Support, An interdisciplinary research project to assess the structural condition of the Ghent Altarpiece, Final project report, October 9, 2011
https://data.closertovaneyck.be/legacy/data/Final%20project%20report.pdf
Matthew Hayes, The Renaissance Restored, 2021
Helene Verougstraete and Wim Verbaal, “The Ghent Altarpiece and the Inscription on the Cloths of Honour Behind Mary and John the Baptist,” Ghent, Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, 2022
https://www.sintbaafskathedraal.be/images/files/inscription.pdf