Danny Praet

Maximiliaan P. J. Martens

-Interdisciplinary approach to a major work in art history, offering new insights -Lavishly illustrated -Includes details that have come to light using state-of-the-art techniques during the restoration and conservation project that are not always visible to the naked eye The Ghent Altarpiece or the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, by the Van Eyck brothers (1432), is recognized worldwide as a great work of art, and one of the most influential paintings ever made. It was the world's first major oil painting, and it is laced with religious mysticism. The work almost reads like an A to Z of Christianity - from the Annunciation to the symbolic sacrifice of Christ, with the 'Mystic Lamb' on an altar in a heavenly meadow, bleeding into the Holy Grail. For the first time, this book gathers together diverse insights on the Ghent Altarpiece, the monumental poliptych that the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck realized with the assistance of a large workshop and advisers on the painting's subject matters. This book has the same aim: to bring together experts from the most diverse disciplines. Only by combining the perspectives of (art) historians, philosophers, religious studies scholars, mathematicians and specialists in optics can one fully understand the riches and depth of this masterpiece. Lavishly illustrated, including details that have come to light using state-of-the-art techniques during the current conservation project and are not always visible to the naked eye.

Art, History, Science and Religion

Ghent Altarpiece

After it first surfaced in public, 'Dancing Peasants at a St. Sebastian's Kermis' was recognized as a work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, among others by Max Friedländer, the great connoisseur of Flemish painting. However, after it entered the collection of Baroness Bentinck-Thyssen-Bornemisza, the scholarly interest in the painting diminished. When it reappeared many decades later on the art market in a heavily restored condition, its artistic qualities could no longer be appreciated. Only after a recent judicious conservation treatment, a scientific examination of its materials and a new evaluation of its painting technique and style, the painting can be returned to one of the greatest masters of Western art history, Pieter Bruegel the Elder--éd.

Maximiliaan P. J. Martens

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