Tuesday, May 6, 2025

It is the 6th of May 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 Luckily for those of you whose eyes glaze over when I mention sports, no more. Sports are the worst, and I will never talk about them again.

But the church history keeps going- and today with a fun combination of events that let us talk about what might be the most famous altarpiece in history- the envy of Renaissance kings and stolen by both Napoleon and the Nazi’s.

It was on this, the 6th of May in 1432, that the Ghent Altarpiece was installed at what is now the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent in Belgium- then the Burgundian Netherlands. The polyptych (that is, a series of panels with hinges such that the piece can be opened and closed) is sometimes referred to as “the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” for its famous centerpiece. I understand the limitations of an audio podcast, so I suggest you Google it- or better yet, Google “Closer to van Eyck,” which is a project out of the Getty Museum that has rendered the image with over 100 billion pixels, allowing you to zoom in on this masterpiece down to the brushstroke.

There is so much going on- let’s start with the nature of an altarpiece and its commissioning. It was commissioned for a private chapel at the Cathedral by its patrons who could expect priests to say masses on their behalf- with the development of the doctrine of Purgatory it was a good use of ones money to have masses said both on your behalf, on behalf of the dead and then eventually on your own behalf whilst you wait in limbo.

It was commissioned by Joos Vijd and his wife Elizabeth, who, as is often the case, can be seen in the painting itself.

It was commissioned by them in the 1420s for Hubert van Eyck (“Eye”k is the anglo pronunciaton and “Eck” is the Flemish) he would die in 1426 and his younger brother, Jan would complete the work (this was not known until the 1800s when an inscription was found in the altarpiece during one of its many restorations).

The altarpiece survived the iconoclasm of the Calvinists in the 1500s- it was taken apart and hidden in the church.

The piece was later stolen by Napoleon to go in his newly created Louvre. It was returned only to be stolen by the Nazi’s and hidden by them in the Altausee salt mines in Austria. It was discovered by the Monuments Men in 1945- in 2014, George Clooney’s movie “The Monuments Men” is a recounting of how they saved this altarpiece, known as “the most stolen artwork of all time,” and the movie had its premier at St. Bavo’s cathedral in Ghent.

11 of the 12 panels from this 11x15 foot giant are still extant and undergoing a restoration that is planned to end next year- the aforementioned website will show you both restored and previous versions of the piece.

But one of the panels stands out amongst the rest- it is the bottom center, known as the “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb”. If you are in the revised common lectionary year C this past Sunday’s readings centered in Revelation 5- the adoration of the lamb and the scrolls is the setting for this centerpiece.

In the midst of a natural-looking green field with mountains and castles in the background is an altar on which is a lamb from whose pierced side is flowing blood into a chalice. Surrounding the lamb on the altar is an array of angels and people, from obvious church leaders to collections of people who represent Van Eyck’s conception of people making up all the nations. There are also censors of incense under the altar (more Revelation imagery) as well as a cross and the column on which Jesus was connected to as he was whipped.

An audio podcast can’t do justice to this- perhaps most famous piece of art- most famous altarpieces of all time and that which kicks off the northern renaissance and the use of oils instead of egg tempera… but art can be analyzed and scrutinized to death when it can be enjoyed and used for devotional purposes. So, go check out the Van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece on this, the anniversary of its installation on this, the 6th of May, almost 600 years ago in 1432.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Acts 26- Paul recounting his conversion on the road to Damascus

12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 6th of May 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows the distinction between Egg Tempera and Egg Tempura… very important, he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who just realized he didn’t know what “goads” were (long, sharpened sticks to prod cattle, I learned). I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.