Rejuvenated Lamb

Restoring an old master is always a ticklish job. When Belgian authorities announced last fall that they were planning a major cleanup job on the 15th Century Adoration of the Lamb by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck, they drew a chorus of protests. The Lamb is Belgium's No. 1 art treasure. It had already suffered through 500 years of wars, fires, thefts* and the ministrations of countless well-meaning artist-restorers.

Last week Belgian art lovers could breathe easy. The restored Lamb, back in place in Ghent's Cathedral of St. Bavon, looked better than it had for centuries. Long-obscured flowers sprouted from the grass, the grey clouds that once hovered about the holy dove had become a rain-bow-hued nimbus, and a lovingly detailed background landscape emerged clearly from the greenish-brown mist of generations. Everywhere, colors brightened to the rich blues, yellows and reds the Van Eycks had originally painted.

The experts began with a painstaking study of the painting's twelve panels with microscope and X-ray photographs. Then they impregnated the surface with beeswax, and flattened out blisters with warmed spatulas. With mild solvents, they removed centuries of varnish (sometimes twelve layers deep) and retouchings, and they scrupulously avoided doing any retouching of their own.

Ghent townspeople, examining their cathedral's prized possession, noted one startling change. The mystic lamb now has four ears instead of two--the extra pair being the work of an early retoucher. "It would have taken two or three more months to remove the extra ears," explained an official. "And Ghent wanted the painting back."

* Most recently by the Nazis, who earmarked the Lamb for Hitler's private collection, finally hid it in an Austrian salt mine, where it was recovered in 1945.

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