Stealing the Mystic Lamb (6 page)

The panels on the far left and right of the upper register depict Adam and Eve. Eve holds a gnarled lemon rather than the traditional apple, symbolizing the Forbidden Fruit. Her expression is difficult to read—at first glance she looks blank, while Adam’s look suggests soulful mourning, brow slightly knit in distant concern. Beneath these figures are inscribed: “Adam thrusts us into death” and “Eve has afflicted us with death.” These two are responsible for the “Fall of Man,” the reason why Christ had to be born—in order to die and, in doing so, to reverse their Original Sin.

In contrast to the idealized populace of the rest of the artwork, these two figures are the first
unidealized
nudes in painting of this period. They are depicted in exacting detail, with nostril hairs and awkwardly bulging stomachs—an affront to convention. While idealized nudes, like those in Greek and Roman statues, were acceptable, because they showed the human form as magnificent and perfect, van Eyck’s Adam and Eve were deemed too realistic by Enlightenment viewers. These panels were censored in 1781 and replaced by exact copies, on which bearskins were painted, to cover up the naughty bits. Between the Adam and Eve panels we see a heavenly choir singing to the left, and playing instruments to the right.

The unusual iconography of the tiled floor beneath the angels requires special examination. Beneath the musicians the minutely painted majolica tiles, which at the time would have been imported to Flanders from Valencia, are inscribed with “IECVC,” an approximation of the name Jesus,
likely chosen for its proximity to an abbreviated signature of the painter (in Latin, Ioannes de Eyck). Also in the puzzle of the intricate green-and-white tiles on the floor beneath the angelic choir, we can see a lamb with a flag. Another seemingly enigmatic cluster of letters, in yet another of the painted tiles, reads “AGLA.” This is a Latin abbreviation for the Hebrew
atta gibbor le’olam Adonai
, “Thou art strong unto eternity, O Lord of Hosts.”

Also inscribed into the tiles is the so-called Christogram, the coat of arms of Christ. This symbol was promoted by van Eyck’s contemporary, Saint Bernardino of Siena, in an effort to rally squabbling families and political groups, particularly the rival Guelphs and Ghibellines, under the united battle flag of Catholicism. That van Eyck (or van Eyck and the theologian /designer) should incorporate a symbol that was at the heart of contemporary Italian politics shows a remarkable level of erudition and awareness of current events. Yet the subtlety of it (it is difficult to see even up close and with a magnifying glass) makes it more of a personal reference than anything else. This level of detail would only have been seen by a small group of peers and friends of the artist and the commissioner—those given access to peruse the painting at leisure, rather than the
majority, who would see it only in a formal setting and at impersonal distance. Van Eyck was part of a rich tradition of artists who buried references that few could find, let alone recognize.

In the two panels on the bottom register to the right of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, a group of figures approach the meadow to pay homage to the Lamb of God. These figures are identified by inscriptions on the frames that surround them:
Heremite Sancti
(“the Holy Hermits”) and
Peregrini Sancti
(“the Holy Pilgrims”). In the first of these two panels,
the Holy Hermits are led by Saint Anthony, identified by his T-shaped walking stick. It is probable that the local hermit and namesake of the cathedral, Saint Bavo himself, is depicted among the Holy Hermits, though he has yet to be identified. Two female hermits may be seen among the bearded men, one of whom is Saint Mary Magdalen, carrying her hagiographic icon, a jar of ointment. The Holy Pilgrims, in the panel to the farthest right, are led by the giant Saint Christopher, patron saint of travelers. Behind him walks Saint James (Santiago di Compostela), patron saint of pilgrims, identified by the scallop shell in his hat.

Although easy to overlook, the vegetation in the background of these two panels, particularly the cypress and palm trees, would have seemed exotic to Flemish viewers. These warm-weather plants were painted with such botanical detail that scholars have assumed that van Eyck must have seen the trees during his travels. A voyage to Portugal could account for the astonishing naturalism of his tropical plants and craggy, desert landscapes. The more tantalizing possibility is that van Eyck may have traveled to the Holy Land—a theory proposed by several scholars, for which no documentary evidence exists.

These panels also show van Eyck anticipating a technique made famous by Leonardo da Vinci a generation later. The human eye sees objects and landscapes in the far distance through a haze of atmosphere; therefore what is farthest away appears least clear, as if covered in a sort of translucent gauze. Van Eyck was the first artist to mimic this aerial perspective.

On the opposite side of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, the two panels on the far bottom left, are the
Cristi Milites
, “the Knights of Christ,” on the inner left, and the
Iusti Iudices
, “the Righteous Judges.” While none of the young knights have been identified with historical individuals, the coats of arms on their shields have. The arms of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem are on the shield with a silver cross. The arms of the Order of Saint George, from which the English flag is derived, show a red cross on a white ground. The arms of the Order of Saint Sebastian show a cross and four gold crosslets.

The banners flutter with an enigmatic phrase, the origin of which is unknown:
Deus Fortis Adonay T Sabaot V/Emanuel Ihesus T XPC A.G.L.A.
, “Mighty God, T, Lord of Hosts, V/God with us, Jesus, T, Christ, A.G.L.A.” The “AGLA,” also found in the tiles beneath the angelic choir, stands for
atta gibbor le’olam Adonai
, Hebrew meaning “Thou art strong unto eternity, O Lord of Hosts.” The knights may have had a contemporary resonance, because, in 1430, Philip the Good the Valois Duke
of Burgundy planned—but never carried out—a crusade of his own to the Holy Land.

The panel on the far left depicts the Righteous Judges, a work that would be stolen in the most bizarre of the many crimes involving the painting and the one still unsolved. Portraits of some key contemporary figures, including van Eyck himself, are thought to be hidden among this throng. There is no contemporary document attesting to this, but if one compares the likeness in Jan’s
Portrait in a Red Turban
, it seems clear that the man in the dark turban wearing a gold necklace, the only person besides God himself in the entire composition who stares directly out of the painting and at the viewer, is a self-portrait of Jan van Eyck. He would place himself in the background of a number of other paintings, including
The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait
and
Madonna of Chancellor Rolin
, always wearing a red turban.

To the right of van Eyck, wearing an ermine collar and riding a horse that looks out at the viewer, is a likeness of Philip the Good. The rider to van Eyck’s left, wearing an unusual fur hat with the front flap pulled up, is thought to be the artist’s brother, Hubert van Eyck. These portraits were identified in the sixteenth century and first published in the work of a biographer of Renaissance artists, Karel van Mander, in his
Lives of the Illustrious Netherlandish and German Painters
(1604): “Hubertus sits on the right-hand side of his brother, according to seniority; he looks, compared to his brother, quite old. On his head he wears a strange hat with a raised, turned-back brim at the front of precious fur. Joannes wears a very ingenious hat, something like a turban which hangs down behind.”