Arts Society North Bucks
Thursday, 11th June 2026 at 11.00 am
Lovat Hall, Silver Street, Newport Pagnell MK16 0EJ
Completed in 1432, the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan and Hubert van Eyck is the first dateable painting of the Northern Renaissance and a milestone in the history of art.
This lecture looks at the Van Eyck’s dazzlingly, and unprecedentedly, naturalistic depiction of people, plants and objects, enabled by the novel use of the oil medium. It unravels the meaning of the altarpiece’s complex imagery and explores its later history, including its finding by the Monuments Men in 1945. It will highlight some of the discoveries to have emerged during its current restoration.