Ghent altar: altar story and photo

The Cathedral of St. Bavo in the Belgian city of Ghent became world famous due to its altar - the greatest masterpiece of the painting of the Early Renaissance, executed by Flemish artist Jan van Eyck. Composed of twenty-four panels with the image of two hundred and fifty-eight human figures, the Ghent altar entered the history of world art as one of the most grandiose works of its era.

Brothers painters

The history of the Ghent altar began in 1417 when a wealthy resident of the city of Ghent, Jos Wadet, ordered his two brothers - the artists Hubert and Jan van Eyck - for his home chapel, which later became the very cathedral of Saint Bovan, where this masterpiece is now located. From documents it is known that the customer and his wife Isabella Borlyut, having lived together a long life, remained childless and, realizing that after death, there will be nobody to pray for the repose of their souls, they tried to fill the absence of prayers with such a generous gift.

According to the opinion of historians and art historians, the elder brother - Hubert - took part in the work only at its initial stage, therefore the authorship of a huge work is attributed almost exclusively to his younger brother Jan. Information about his life is rather sparse. It is known that he was born in the city of Maaseik in the Northern Netherlands, but it's difficult to name exact date biographers, believing only that it could happen around 1385-1390.

Jan van Eyck, whose self-portrait is presented at the beginning of the article, studied painting with his elder brother Hubert and worked with him until his death in 1426. His mentor knows that he had great success among his contemporaries, as one of the best artists, but we can not judge his works, since none of them has survived to our days. As for Jan, his talent was appreciated by the richest philanthropist of that time, the duke of Burgundy, Philip II, who made him his court painter and did not skimp on generous royalties. Jan van Eyck passed away from life, according to one source, in 1441, and according to others, in 1442. It was to him that Jos Veidt turned, wishing to benefit his native Ghent.

Jan van Eyck: Ghent altar. Description

The altar in question is polyptych, that is, a huge fold-out consisting of separate panels painted on both sides. The design allows to consider it both in open and in a closed form. Its total height is three and a half, and the width is five meters. This impressive construction weighs more than a ton.

The scenes depicted on the doors of the altar and its central part are a series of biblical stories, in the form in which they are interpreted by Catholics. Before the spectator a number of Old Testament and New Testament pictures appear, beginning with the fall of Adam and ending with the sacrificial death and worship of the Lamb. The general composition also includes very realistically executed portraits of the customer and his wife.

The Ghent altar, the photo of which is presented in this article, is a very complex construction. In its upper central part is depicted the figure of God the Father, seated on the throne. He wears a purple vestment of a priest and a papal tiara. On the golden ribbon decorating the chest, you can read the word "Sabaoth" - this is the name of God the Creator of the universe. On the sides of it are the figures of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. Even further at this level are depicted angels playing musical instruments, and, finally, along the edges - the naked figures of Adam and Eve.

In the lower part is a scene of worship of the Holy Lamb, which symbolizes Jesus Christ. To him from four sides are sent processions consisting of both biblical characters and saints who glorified God in the later period. Among them, the figures of the prophets, apostles, great martyrs and even the poet Virgil are easily discernible. The side flaps of the lower row are also covered with images of the processions of saints.

Realistic representation of characters

The Ghent altar, whose history of creation is associated with a private order, by tradition of those years, retained on its panels and the images of people whose money it was created. These are the portraits of Jos Wadet and his wife Isabella Borlut, written in such a way that the viewer sees them only when the shutters are closed. Both images, as well as other figures, are executed with astonishing realism and leave no doubt that we are facing the portraits of living people.

It should be noted that in all the works of Jan van Eyck, and today they are known for more than a hundred, striking scrupulous elaboration of details, especially noticeable on reproductions made with the help of macrophoto. The Ghent altar can serve as a vivid illustration of this. It is enough to consider 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 not difficult to disassemble the individual letters on her pages. It is known that the artist, after the death of his brother for sixteen years, continued to refine and supplement the fragments of the Ghent Altar created by him (1426-1442). Jan Van Eycke, this work brought to the rank of the best painters of his era.

A story that has no equal

The Ghent altar of Jan van Eyck has a story, on the plot of which it would be possible to shoot not one spectacular series. Researchers counted that for six hundred years of the history of the masterpiece, thirteen crimes were associated with him. He was repeatedly kidnapped, secretly and openly exported, tried to sell, give, burn and blow up. He was exhibited in museums and hid in secret. But fate would have liked that after all the ordeals the circle of his wanderings would close in his native Ghent, where he still remains.

The era of religious wars

After the work on the altar was completed in 1432, he remained at rest for twenty-eight years, inciting religious feelings among the parishioners. But in 1460 a small and until then calm Flanders became the arena of bloody battles between Catholics and Protestants, who entered an irreconcilable struggle.

Victory in this war was won by the Protestants, 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 altar was saved only because it was dismantled on time and partially hidden in the cathedral tower, where it was stored for three years.

When the passions subsided and the wave of vandalism began to wane, the victors finally found the Ghent altar and set out to give it to Queen Elizabeth in gratitude for the military assistance provided by the British. From the forced immigration, the relic was saved only by the fact that the heirs of Jos Wadet were influential people not only among Catholics, but also among their religious opponents.

With great difficulty they succeeded in hindering this venture. In England, the altar did not go, but to keep it in the cathedral Calvinists did not allow. As a result, a compromise was found-disassembled into separate fragments, he decorated the town hall as a collection of paintings, which was the best option for him, since he provided security.

In 1581, bloodshed on religious grounds began again in Ghent, but this time the military success changed Protestants. Unlike the Northern Netherlands, Flanders became Catholic. Thanks to this event, the Ghent altar of Jan van Eyck again returned to his place. This time he was not disturbed for two hundred years, until Ghent was visited by the Austrian emperor Joseph II, who traveled throughout Europe.

Offended chastity

This forty-year-old and not at all old man was 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 moralist, the doors with immodest images were dismantled and deposited in the house of the heirs of the previous owner.

By the way, running ahead, it should be noted that already in a relatively close time from us, in 1865, among the high-ranking officials there was another champion of morality. At his request, the previous images of Adam and Eve were replaced by new ones, on which the ancestors of mankind were dressed in some unthinkable skins, similar to bearish ones.

Captivated by Napoleon

Another misadventure fell upon the Ghent altar in 1792. Hostess then in the city Napoleonic soldiers unceremoniously dismantled it and the central parts were sent 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 not possible to snap anything in the foreign country that appealed to him. Then he offered the authorities of Ghent in exchange for the missing parts of the altar several paintings by Rubens, but was refused. This was the right decision, since in 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, the stolen parts of the altar returned to their rightful place in the Cathedral of St. Bavo.

Sin of the Cathedral Vicar

But even this his misadventures did not end. A new impulse was given to them by the vicar of the cathedral. This cleric clearly had a problem with the eighth commandment of God, which reads: "Do not steal." Having succumbed to the temptation, he stole some of the panels and sold them to the antiquary Nyivenhos, who, along with the collector Solly, resold them to the Prussian king Frederick William III, and he did not hesitate to expose stolen things in his Kaiser-Museum.

At the beginning of the First World War, the Germans, having entered Belgium, undertook the search for the remaining parts of the altar from Ghent. Fortunately, the planned robbery was prevented by the canon of St. Bavon's Cathedral, van den Hein. With his four assistants, he dismantled the Ghent altar and, in parts, hid it 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, the stolen honor was returned to their rightful place, which the Prussian king bought.

Irreplaceable loss

But not always the adventure ended so safely. The next theft occurred in 1934. Then, under obscure circumstances, the altar flap with the image of the procession of righteous judges disappeared. It happened on April 11, and after seven and a half months the honorable resident of Ghent Arsen Kudertir, lying on his deathbed, repented that he had committed the theft, and even indicated the place where the stolen was stashed. However, this cache was empty. It was not possible to find the loss, and the missing part was soon replaced by a copy made by the artist van der Feken.

On the verge of doom

But the most stressful period in its history is connected with the years of the Second World War. The Belgian fascists wanted to present Hitler with a worthy present. After some thought, it was decided to give the same masterpiece, which decorated their city Jan van Eyck. The Ghent altar was again dismantled and transported to France in trucks, where it was kept for some time in the castle of Po.

Already in September 1942 the German command was impatient and demanded to speed up the transfer of the altar to them. For this purpose, he was taken to Paris, where at that time a large batch of museum treasures, intended for shipment to Germany, was completed. One part of the exhibits was intended for Hitler's museum in Linz, and another for Hering's personal collection. The altar was transferred to Bavaria and placed in the castle of Neuschwanstein.

There he was until the end of the war, until in 1945 the German command made a decision to bury artistic 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 buried deep underground. However, in the spring, when the collapse of the Third Reich became inevitable, an order was issued from Rosenberg's headquarters 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 Austrian partisans. Thanks to their heroism, many paintings of old masters were rescued, among them the offspring of an artist named Jan van Eyck. Ghent altar, miraculously escaped death, was brought to Munich, and then went to his homeland in Ghent. However, he took his rightful place in the cathedral of St. Bavon only forty years later, in 1986.

City-Museum

Today, the relatively small Belgian city of Ghent has glorified the names of two great artists: Charles de Coster, who wrote his immortal "Till Eulenspiegel," and Jan van Eyck, who created the Ghent Altar. The description of this greatest in its artistic meaning works can be found in all the guidebooks.

Ghent, which was the second largest city after Paris until the 16th century, today 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, surviving all ages and perils of the altar, as well as works of painters from different eras exhibited in the city museum of fine arts.