de aanbidding van het lam gods (13. 822)

Our gratitude to TYWKIWDBI to pointing our attention back to the artistic mastery of the polyptych altarpiece of St Bavo’s cathedral of Ghent (previously), incredibly detailed and imbued with symbolism, especially remarkable since oil painting was a new media at the time of its execution—the monumental commission of Jodocus Vijd and Lysbette Borluut, one of the wealthiest and politically powerful couples in the city—childless and hoping to secure a legacy on Earth and for the hereafter—considered by many to be the definitive example of the transition from Medieval to Renaissance art. There’s a lot to unpack in the study below and were particularly impressed how the shadows and reflections depicted in the panels were made to match how light fell during mass where the altarpiece is displayed, drawing the viewer in with a sense of life and motion. The central panel of the upper register is called a deësis from Byzantine iconography traditions (from the Greek for prayer or supplication, which represents Christ in Majesty, flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. The near life-sized Adam and Eve in niches at the opposite ends are one of the earliest and most direct occurrences of the nude human form in Western art.