The Theft of the Ghent Altarpiece

Early on the morning of 11 April 1934 the sacristan of St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent stumbled on a crime scene. The Ghent Altarpiece – a vast polyptych, painted by Hubert and Jan van Eyck – was in its usual place in the Vijd chapel; but where one of the panels depicting the Just Judges had been, there was now a gaping hole.