Travelrific® Travel Journal

Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!

Archive for adoration of the lamb

The Most Stolen Artwork in the World

By Linda Tancs

The world’s first major oil painting is Hubert and Jan van Eyck’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.  Also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, it’s a 15th century early Flemish polyptych panel painting of the history of Christianity located at St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium.  It’s also one of the most stolen pieces of artwork in the world, having been sold various times and looted during both world wars.  In fact, eight of the looted panels were returned to Belgium after World War II thanks to the efforts of the Monuments Men.  Of its twelve panels, only one–the Just Judges–remains lost from an unsolved heist in 1934.  A copy by the Belgian painter and restorer Jef Van der Veken takes its place.

%d bloggers like this: