Stealing the Mystic Lamb – The story of the world’s most coveted masterpiece

Many of you may be forgiven for thinking that the above image is actually a sculpture, well you’d be wrong. It’s painted by an artist known as Jan van Eyck and is considered by many to be one of the most important paintings in history. The awe inspiring lighting, composition and photorealism of this piece isn’t just incredible for it’s life like qualities. It is in fact because it was painted nearly 600 years ago and since then has had a dark history that can’t be rivalled by many other works.

So other than the craftsmanship and age of the piece – why is this painting so important? Well, The Ghent Altarpiece is the most frequently stolen artwork of all time. Since its completion in 1432, this twelve-panel oil painting has disappeared, been looted in three different wars, been burned, dismembered, copied, forged, smuggled, illegally sold, censored, attacked by iconoclasts, hidden castle vaults and secret salt mines, hunted by Nazis and Napoleon, prized by The Louvre and a Prussian king, damaged by conservators, returned as war reparations, used as a diplomatic tool, ransomed, rescued by Austrian double-agents, and stolen a total of thirteen times.

Stealing the Mystic Lamb is the incredible tale behind the deception, fraud and scammers who throughout history have done whatever they feel necessary to obtain it.

Available at Amazon now.