Since Paul Coreman's ground-breaking L'Agneau mystique au
laboratoire in 1953, the Ghent Altarpiece, masterwork of the
Van Eyck brothers, has been a major focus of research at the Royal
Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels). Some sixty years
later, in the wake of a new conservation campaign in which KIK-IRPA is
again playing the leading role, the art of Hubert and Jan van Eyck took
centre stage at the Symposium XVIII for the Study of Underdrawing and
Technology in Painting (Brussels, 19-21 September 2012). The event was
organised by the KIK-IRPA and the Centre for the Study of the Flemish
Primitives in collaboration with the Laboratoire d'étude des œuvres d'art
par des méthodes scientifiques (Université catholique de
Louvain-la-Neuve), and Illuminare - Centre for the Study of Medieval Art
(Katholieke Universiteit Leuven).
The Ghent Altarpiece and
the oeuvre of Jan van Eyck continue to captivate modern viewers and still
arouse tremendous interest among art historians. The fascination with
Eyckian art, with all its dazzling illusionistic effects and iconographic
finesse, is every bit as fresh and challenging as it was six centuries
ago.
During three days of presentations and intense discussions,
eminent specialists from all over the world attempted to fanthom the
secrets of Van Eyck's success. They debated the issues from a variety of
different standpoints, and shed new light on thorny topics such as
attribution, iconography and painting technique.
This book captures
the variety of thirty-seven papers presented at the symposium and provides
state-of-the-art knowledge on one of the most significant painters of all
time. It should be read in conjunction with the widely acclaimed website
"Closer to Van Eyck", which offers the scientific imagery of the Ghent
Altarpiece in glorious high resolution.