Ghent Altarpiece

As Europe was liberated in 1944 and 1945, they were brought in to assess what was discovered at approximately 1,500 different sites where collections of looted art and cultural artifacts were found.

Some of the most substantial were Göring's collection of about 1,000 paintings and sculptures found in Berchtesgaden in southern Germany when Bavaria was liberated in 1945, and Frank's collection of Renaissance masterpieces in Poland, while 6,500 paintings alone were uncovered in an abandoned salt mine in Austria, a tranche which included Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges, Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece, and several paintings by the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer.

The work of the Monuments Men was the subject of a recent Hollywood movie.

The work of the Monuments Men continued for many years after the end of the Second World War, and was accompanied by the work of many art agents who sought to recover private possessions that had been stolen wholesale from Jewish people across the continent.

he was just gonna blow the whole thing sky high or tunnel deep, whatever.

Quick note, of the zillion pieces of art down there in that mine that he was getting ready to blow up was the Ghent Altarpiece, which is a very important piece in the European art history world.

There was also a Michelangelo sculpture.

There were some Rembrandts, some Rubens.

So really, the miners saved the day.

And then a couple of days later, a group of allied art historians and curators rolled up and their eyeballs probably fell out of their heads when they got inside.

They were probably like, is that the Ghent Altarpiece? God, what a fun day that must have been.

So that was in May of 1945.

There's a gap in one of the most important paintings in the history of Western art, and it's been there for over 90 years.

The Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, was completed in 1432 by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck.

It's widely considered the first major oil painting in European art, a groundbreaking work that changed how artists thought about color, light, and realism.

It sits today in St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium.

But others believe this doesn't quite hold up, given that Gaudetier was himself deeply involved in Catholic life and church-related charities.

A more dramatic theory ties the theft to the rise of the regime in Germany.

The Austrian painter came to power in Germany just one year before the panel disappeared, and he had a serious fascination with the Ghent Altarpiece.

Some researchers believe Gaudetier and his associates were working on behalf of a German agent, and that the theft was commissioned to secure the panel for the Führer himself.

And we did a couple episodes.

If you count the movie crossover, we essentially did three episodes talking about the altarpiece, the Ghent altarpiece, because we talked about Monuments Men.

Great movie.

I got to do my annual rewatch.

Im frühen 15.

Jahrhundert geht diesem Werk der Genter Altar Jan van Eycks voraus.

Und zeitgleich mit Dürer malt Raffael im Vatikan in den Stanzen sein Fresko der Disputa.

Der Landauer Altar ist die Disputa des Nordens.