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elleng

(130,133 posts)
Mon Dec 19, 2016, 11:21 PM Dec 2016

A Master Work, the Ghent Altarpiece, Reawakens Stroke by Stroke.

GHENT, Belgium — Layers and layers of paint have been virtually and physically removed from the 15th-century Ghent Altarpiece, a renowned work of biblical figures on wood panels, revealing for the first time in hundreds of years the individual brush strokes of the original paintings.

In this first phase of restoration on one of the earliest art works to use oil paints on a large scale, new scanning techniques uncovered the singular skills of the Flemish brothers Jan and Hubert Van Eyck, beneath layers of overpainting and varnish.

The restoration, which has been taking place for the last four years here at the Museum of Fine Arts, has involved painstaking work that has led to a number of discoveries, including the dating of several wooden panels from the same oak trees.

As an early Renaissance piece, the altarpiece is widely recognized as one of history’s most influential art works, because of the intimate attention it gives to both earthly and divine beauty. The polyptych altarpiece, consisting of 12 panels, has at its center its most iconic panel, “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.’’ It depicts a liturgy attended by different groups of people in a landscape rich in religious symbolism. In the middle is a white lamb on an altar, with a breast wound gushing blood.'>>>

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/science/ghent-altarpiece-restoration.html?

The Alterpiece was a major part of the movie Monuments Men.

This photo provided by The Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art of Dallas, shows Monuments Man George Stout, third from left with an "N" on his shirt, moving the central panel of the Ghent Altarpiece in Altaussee, Austria in July of 1945. From a fairy tale-inspiring castle in the Bavarian Alps to a serene sculpture of Mary and Jesus by Michelangelo tucked away in a church in Belgium, sites and works of art across Europe can give travelers a glimpse at the heroic work done by those who worked to save cultural treasures during World War II. (AP Photo/National Archives and Records Administration)

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Monuments-Men-sought-to-return-the-most-desired-5236683.php

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