Restorers unveil original face of Belgium's 'Mystic Lamb'

ARTDAILY
Jan van Eyck - The Ghent Altarpiece - Adoration of the Lamb (detail)
GHENT (AFP).- A painstaking restoration of the "Mystic Lamb", a 15th-century Flemish masterpiece by the Van Eyck brothers, was unveiled on Tuesday, revealing a "much more expressive and intense" version of the central image of the giant altarpiece. Restorers from Belgium's Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage began working on the altarpiece in 2012, but in recent months focused on removing the overpainting from the central part of the work which includes the head of the lamb. And the results were unveiled at St Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent on Tuesday, with the restorers highlighting a number of surprising discoveries about the altarpiece, which is one of the world's most stolen artworks. [More]
Restorers of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage remove surpeints and reveal the original of "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" altarpiece by Van Eyck brothers at the art gallery in Ghent on June 19, 2018. JOHN THYS / AFP.