He was personally awarded the Certificate of Merit and the Order of Leopold II by the post-war Belgian government for this act.
FReegards!
Posted on 12/21/2016 12:52:46 AM PST by BlessedBeGod
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...
The altarpiece has a dark side as well. Pieces of it have been stolen repeatedly over time, including by the Nazis, who stored the entire work in a salt mine for most of World War II...
“But what’s most revolutionary here is that the scans influenced the actual restoration works and convinced restorers to scrape off paint from one of the world’s most valuable paintings,” he added...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Very interesting article. What painstaking work.
This altar piece starred in the Movie - Monuments Men.
This altar piece starred in the Movie - Monuments Men.
That movie made me madder than Hell.
It was based on a true story, one we should all be proud of. It is true, history, and fascinating.
I had read the book years before the movie and thought it would be a great movie.
When I went to see it, I gritted my teeth. They populated the movie with mostly liberal turds like George Clooney, turned it into a cartoon complete with stupid music that didn’t fit, and destroyed what was a great and important story.
Grrr.
During the 90’s as a nontraditional college student I took a variety of humanities, history and art appreciation classes. Upkn graduation, my buckst list was full of places to go and things to see in Europe. However, instead I attended a wedding in Washington DC. and while there, visited the Smithsonian art museum among other places.
They had just completed cleaning and restoring Van Eck’s
Annunciation, and had just put it on display. It was breathtaking! The restoration itself was perfect, the colors, bright and vivid like they had just been squeezed from the tube. The artwork itself made me so jealous! How I wished I could paint like that!
A lot of artwork needs to be viewed from a distance to enjoy the mastery of each stroke. But not this painting. It was meant to be viewed up close and personal, like the topic of the painting itself.
I didn’t have to go to Europe after all! Paintings and other exhibits are shipped and shared with museums all over the world. Cathedrals are too big for that but oh well!
I love the Smithsonian!
What a simple privilege of life it is to see the actual works of historical masters! To reach back to the past as though time stood still!
I feel much the same way.
I live in New England, and there is an organization called “Historic New England” that preserves historic houses and gives tours of them. Some are restored faithfully and have actual belongings and furniture that was there during that time, and sometimes they do the best they can, populating them with period furniture and such.
The sense of history and being back in time is very strong in these houses. You can imagine it.
For Art, I get that same sense, looking at contemporary (for the subject) portraits of historic figures.
He was personally awarded the Certificate of Merit and the Order of Leopold II by the post-war Belgian government for this act.
FReegards!
That is a wonderful piece of heritage to have in your family...something to be proud of! Thanks for sharing that...
The imagery of the Agnus Dei is wonderful.
John 1:29 - the Apocalypse - “...behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world...”
The picture shows the beautiful link to the mass: Revelation does not make sense until studied in sync with the mass - most especially the language of the original Latin Mass (the novus ordo is very watered down).
Thanks for the post!
I’ve been in some of those old homes, having grown up in New England. My parents owned an old 13 room colonial complete with the sliding doors hidden in the window frames, complete with the opening for a long gun and a viewing hole for aiming. When the house was modernized years ago, they ran tybe plumbing up through one of the fireplaces that was a double fireplace. One side faced the kitchen, the other the dining area. We discovered that when we decided to take things apart for restoration. They had blocked both fireplaces.
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rt restoration has got to be a wonderful job! How exciting to have family involved in such awesome work!
The Nelson Atkins art gallery in Kansas City was started by Monuments Men.- One always wonders if the paintings should be returned...
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