The Ghent Altarpiece’s Surreally Restored Lamb Is Instant Meme Material, Drawing Comparisons to Zoolander, Steve Buscemi, and More

One of the world’s most famous
paintings has been restored to its original state—and it’s freaking
everyone out. 

Thought to be one of the first
works of art made with oil paint, the Flemish brothers Jan Van Eyck
and Hubert Van Eyck created the Ghent Altarpiece in St. Bavo’s
Cathedral in Belgium in 1432. Across 12 panels, it depicts Christ,
the Virgin Mary, Adam and Eve, and other biblical figures in
allegorical scenes. 

Central to the work is
the Adoration of the
Mystic Lamb, an
elaborate painting in the painting’s bottom register which depicts
the Lamb of God—a symbol for Jesus—atop an altar, surrounded by
angels, prophets, and a dove representing the Holy Spirit. Yet,
despite being the focus of study for generations of obsessive art
historians, only in the last decade did researchers come across a
crucial discovery: that much of the canvas, including the holy
lamb, had been painted over in the 16th
century.  

Now, as the painting is about to
go on view in a once-in-a-lifetime
Jan van Eyck exhibition in Belgium next week, the country’s Royal
Institute for Cultural Heritage has revealed the results of
its eight-year, $2.4
million restoration effort.

To put it mildly, it caught a
lot of people by surprise. The lamb, once depicted as soft and wise, has
been revealed to have human-like eyes, a chiseled snout, and is,
well, just kind of…baaaaa’d. (It’s also like an animorph mid-transformation.)

The Van Eyck brothers’ original
lamb has already become an
online meme and drawn comparisons to Monkey
Christ, Black Philip from
The Witch, Derek
Zoolander, and
Steve
Buscemi. The lamb now
even has his own Twitter profile. (He will not follow you back.)

This is just the latest chapter
in the incredibly turbulent history of the Ghent
Altarpiece, which has over the years been copied, altered, and censored over the
years. It has been nearly destroyed by fire on multiple occasions
and stolen dozens of times, including by Napoleon and Hitler. (No
wonder the lamb looks the way he does: he’s seen some
shit.)

“Thanks to this restoration, you
can once again enjoy the full color richness that was established
500 years ago by Jan Van Eyck,” said first deputy Kurt Moens of the
province of East Flanders in a statement. “Standing face to face with the
Mystic Lamb is a particularly intense encounter, something that
every Fleming should experience at least once in his
life.”

The newly restored painting will
make its public debut February 1 in “Van Eyck: An Optical
Revolution” at
the Museum of Fine Arts
Ghent.

The post The Ghent Altarpiece’s Surreally Restored Lamb Is
Instant Meme Material, Drawing Comparisons to Zoolander, Steve
Buscemi, and More appeared first on artnet News.