On 20 August, the Getty Foundation and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels), in collaboration with the Gieskes Strijbis Fund in Amsterdam, launched a new website with images of the recently restored Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. This monumental masterpiece can now be admired in incredible detail at 100 billion pixels.
In need for restoration
Located at St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (1432) by Hubert and Jan van Eyck is a stunningly beautiful and highly complex polyptych that features biblical themes and figures. After centuries of accumulating dirt, yellowed varnishes, extensive overpainting, and dozens of relocations (including a brief stint in a salt mine during the Second World War), the artwork was in dire need of a restoration. Two-thirds of the artwork was restored in recent years by a team of highly skilled conservators from KIK.
Three times The Lamb of God on the central panel, from left to right: before restoration (with the 16th-century overpaint still present), during restoration (showing the Van Eycks’ original Lamb from 1432 before retouching), after retouching (the final result of the restoration).
Research and results available for everyone
Since 2012, the website Closer to Van Eyck has made it possible for anyone to zoom in on the intricate, breath-taking details of one of the most celebrated works of art in the world. Now the results of the restoration can be admired in all their glory on the new website. The KIK team captured the conservation efforts in ultra-high resolution photographic and scientific documentation. These images can now be studied on the Closer to Van Eyck website.
According to project coordinator Ron Spronk from Radboud University, it is entirely unique that the full project – from research to restoration – was shared so openly with the public. “From the restoration reports to infrared reflectography images. The website is also very special. Visitors can decide how deep they want to delve into the material and can really play with the images and compare them. They can do scientific research on the site, use it for education purposes, or simply stare in wonder at the splendid details.”
Detail from the Hermits, before and after restoration
Original painting and more nuances
New post-restoration images on Closer to Van Eyck present many of the scenes as they were originally meant to be seen. This includes the Lamb of God at the very centre of the painting, which had been toned down by a sixteenth-century overpainting. Interdisciplinary research allowed for the removal of this layer of overpaint, finally revealing Van Eyck's intense representation of the Lamb's human-like features. High-resolution images before, during, and after the restoration invite visitors to experience this transformation.
Zooming in on the details using this website provides insight into the incredible precision and spontaneity of the master’s hand. Light plays on metals, plants, hair and skin, and textures are reproduced with unparalleled care. No less than 75 individual species of plants in the work can now be identified by botanists, and the shadows of leaves, trees and bushes offer a wondrous sense of depth and three-dimensionality. Even the ground displays extraordinary nuances, from water-logged mud to soft sand and hard rocks scattered with gemstones, crystals and coral. The cleaning also revealed minutely detailed buildings that had remained hidden for centuries under layers of overpaint.
from the Pilgrims: the infrared reflectography image on the left shows both elaborate underdrawing in the figures and underpainting for the foliage. Comparison with the image on the right reveals the artists’ creative process: The two trees in the centre were not initially planned but added later by the Van Eycks, after the sky was already completed.
Infrared reflectography
New infrared reflectography images (IRR) take viewers on a journey beyond the paint surface to the underdrawings: the first stages of the design of the compositions that reveal the artist’s creative process. Seamless assemblies now offer an undisturbed view of this fascinating microcosm. The IRR images also reveal underpaintings executed in a dark paint, such as in the foliage of the trees behind Saint Christopher in The Pilgrims.
Closer to Van Eyck is coordinated by Professor Ron Spronk (Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and made possible by Universum Digitalis (Brussels), the Getty Foundation (Panel Paintings Initiative) and the Gieskes Strijbis Fund.
Photo: Closer to Van Eyck.