Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece

by Noah Charney (Goodreads Author)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 152 ratings · 34 reviews

Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece is on any art historian’s list of the ten most important paintings ever made. Often referred to by the subject of its central panel, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, it represents the fulcrum between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also the most frequently stolen artwork of all time.Since its completion in 1432, this twelve-panel...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published October 5th 2010 by PublicAffairs (first published September 11th 2010)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Art Crime

29th out of 37 books — 13 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 512)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Aug 02, 2010 Lizzie rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: art historians

Shelves: nonfiction, read-in-2010, got-rid-of, read-but-unowned

This is a book about the misadventures of the Ghent Altarpiece, the "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb", completed by Jan van Eyck in 1432. With its realistic depiction of the Lamb and its adorers, it links Medieval and Renaissance art and is the national treasure of Belgium. Not surprisingly, it's been stolen and recovered a number of times.

Charney starts with a detailed description of the 24 panels that make up the polyptych panel painting: a main panel showing the adoration of Christ depicted as a...more This is a book about the misadventures of the Ghent Altarpiece, the "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb", completed by Jan van Eyck in 1432. With its realistic depiction of the Lamb and its adorers, it links Medieval and Renaissance art and is the national treasure of Belgium. Not surprisingly, it's been stolen and recovered a number of times.

Charney starts with a detailed description of the 24 panels that make up the polyptych panel painting: a main panel showing the adoration of Christ depicted as a lamb, with smaller panels on each side, and two outer wings of multiple panels that can be folded over the main scene, with more paintings on the outside. The paintings contain religious symbology that would have been designed by some church official, not the painter. Over the years scholars have found all kinds of coded messages about the painter and the subject. But it's the realism and beauty of the panels that make them such treasures.

The rest of the book is about the thefts and damage the painting has undergone. It was taken by Napoleon's troops, it was broken up and the outer wings exhibited in Berlin for some time, it was united as part of Germany's reparations after the second world war. A panel was stolen in 1934 and that crime has never been solved. Charney says the crime has the same status in Belgium as the Kennedy assassination here, with new books and theories every year. He goes into it in detail but it was really more than I cared about. I'm uninterested in unsolved mysteries - I'm bored to tears by theories about Kennedy or Jack the Ripper. Perhaps readers who enjoy such things will be more delighted by this material than I was.

Along the way Charney describes how plunder of a nation's art work was once standard procedure in war, but at the start of WWI art scholars implored the world's great powers to end this. Most complied.

During WWII, England and the US set up military units to list and protect archeological and art treasures, and to educate soldiers so that they'd respect these things. The Nazis acknowledged that defeated nations should keep their artworks... unless they were in the hands of Jews or other non citizens. Hitler and Goering were each trying to grab as many pieces as possible, Hitler for a museum he envisioned in his home town of Linz, Austria, that would make it the center of the art world. The number of pieces is staggering, and it included The Lamb. The Reich converted a salt mine in Austria into a storehouse. But when the end was in sight, Hitler gave orders to bomb the mine and destroy everything. If the Reich couldn't have them, nobody could. By this time, American intelligence knew about the salt mine storage, but could they prevent the art from being destroyed? That's the main story of this book.

Well, we know how it comes out, so there's not too much suspense, though that part's interesting. All told, it's another of those books that would have been a good magazine article but has been stretched to book length. The references at the end are kind of cursory; I'd have preferred footnotes and more details about sources. The published version will include color pictures of the painting, which my advance copy lacked.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 05, 2012 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, art-history

Mona Lisa, Shmona Lisa. The most important oil painting in art history is not the smiling seductress from the Louvre, but a monumental altarpiece painted by Flemish artist Jan Van Eyck, whose rightful place is a chapel in a Gothic cathedral in the Beglian city of Ghent. The painting has had a tormented history that will fascinate anyone with an interest in art history or the history of Western Europe.

Some of the other reviewers have commented that the author digresses on numerous occasions. Tha...more Mona Lisa, Shmona Lisa. The most important oil painting in art history is not the smiling seductress from the Louvre, but a monumental altarpiece painted by Flemish artist Jan Van Eyck, whose rightful place is a chapel in a Gothic cathedral in the Beglian city of Ghent. The painting has had a tormented history that will fascinate anyone with an interest in art history or the history of Western Europe.

Some of the other reviewers have commented that the author digresses on numerous occasions. That is true, but I personally found these digressions interesting. A too focused narrative would have failed to situate the painting in its proper artistic, religious or historical context. I actually found the changes in pace refreshing. We start out with a thorough discussion of the significance of the painting. I knew that the painting was considered to mark the transition from the stylized Medieval way of painting to Renaissance realism, but I had not appreciated, for instance, that it contained numerous religious allegories,symbols and other coded references that only an erudite scholar could interpret.

Then the author discusses the circumstances in which the painting came into being. The political and religious climate of the day, the life of the painter, even the life of the wealthy merchant who commissioned the painting. And then the roller coaster begins. The painting comes close to being destroyed by Protestants during the reformation. Napoleon's troops steal it. It ends up in Berlin, and is later restituted to the Belgian people. On several occasions it is hidden by the populace of Gent, or by individual clerics. During WWII, it is looted by the Nazis and ends up in a salt mine in Austria. As the days of the Third Reich come to a close, a fanatical gauleiter wants to blow up the mine with all the priceless art treasures in it. This is prevented, though it is not clear who can claim credit for saving the art. It was a toothache that ultimately led the Allies to the stash, in the sense that the dentist took his American patient to see his son-in-law, who babbled freely about Nazi art looting. But my favorite episode in this rocambolesque narrative is the 1934 theft of two of the panels of the painting. This has stuff you would sneer at if you encountered it in a novel. A stealthy removal of two quite sizable pieces of wood. Ransom letters that become increasingly emotional. A police inspector who decides to focus on a theft of cheese from a nearby shop rather than on the disappearance of the painting from the Cathedral. A deathbed confession by an apparently solid citizen, overheard only by his lawyer, whose subsequent behavior was odd to say the least. The secret of the confessional. Threats to the Belgian royal family. All good lip-smacking stuff, the equivalent of the JFK assassination for Belgium. Or perhaps a better analogy would be the diseappearsance of Jimmy Hoffa, since the missing panel has never been found, despite hints that it might be hidden in the cathedral itself. It is a terrible pity that no funds have been found to apply modern technology to the church interior in an effort to find the panel.

This is a great book that combines scholarly discussions about art history with faster-paced adventures. (less)

like · see review

Sep 20, 2011 Timothy Hallinan rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Ghent Altarpiece -- the masterpiece of Jan Van Eyck, possibly the first major oil painting in history, the most influential artwork of its day. It's been seen as the last great work of the Middle Ages and the first great work of the Renaissance. It is packed with symbolism enough to engage scholars for centuries, and it has. It's reputed to conceal vast mysteries, if they could only be decoded. Hitler, always a fan of the occult, believed it contained clues to the location of the Arma Christ...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 22, 2011 Donna Jo Atwood rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: art, world-war-ii, nonfiction, true-crime

The most stolen art work in the world is NOT the Rembrandt self-portrait, which has been stolen a mere four times, but Jan van Eyck's The Ghent Altarpiece which has been taken a total of seven times. And it's not the sort of thing you can just shove in your pocket and stroll out with--it has 20 panels fitted together into a triptych of 11 1/2 by 14 1/2 feet, weighing 2 tons. The most recent theft occurred during World War II when Hitler and his gang of Nazis were stripping all of Europe of art m...more

like · see review

Mar 01, 2012 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, nonfiction-general, art

I wasn't sure I would like this book. When I visit art museums, I enter rooms of medieval art more from a sense of duty than from love.
I picked it up anyway, because of the compelling list on the dust jacket, of torments the Ghent Altarpiece has endured and survived: it's been stolen 13 times, and that's the least of the dangers it has faced.
I'm so glad I read this book. Charney's enthusiasm for art and history is infectious. I used to think the paintings hanging on museum walls had, somehow, a...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 31, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

like · see review

Nov 06, 2010 iubookgirl rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Stealing the Mystic Lamb is an account of the many crimes perpetrated against the Ghent Alterpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. This book represents exactly the kind of non-fiction I don't enjoy. Rather than the "riveting narrative" claimed on the back of the book, I found Mystic Lamb to be a a dry, and sometimes repetitious, presentation of facts. The detailed description of the piece and background history of Jan van Eyck, the artist, and the city of Ghent became tedious to...more

like · see review

Apr 18, 2012 Scott Graham rated it 4 of 5 stars

Charney does a marvelous job describing the creation and survival of what I consider to be the finest painting in Western Civilization. Describing how such a large and heavy masterpiece could be stolen, forged, hidden, threatened with destruction and ransomed was a fascinating eye opener to me. (The piece has been stolen 13 times; nothing else even comes close.)
I thought the book dragged a bit before it reached the climax of the Nazis attempt to loot the piece - it was discovered in a salt mine...more

like · see review

Mar 22, 2012 Muccamukk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Non fiction about the Ghent alter piece by Jan Van Eyck, which has been stolen repeatedly over the centuries for a variety of reasons. The first few chapters discuss the painting and painter in detail, then it jumps into it's long and storied history of being lifted. The book is also something of a history of art theft, but usually stays close to the story of the Ghent and the painting. I found it engagingly written and often very funny, though it did drag a bit in the section detailing the 1934...more

like · see review

Feb 22, 2011 Holiday rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of the Ghent Altarpiece, specifically focusing on how it was stolen several times in its history. I love the true-adventure aspect to this historical account, but wish that the author would have gone into even more detail. He should also have included a timeline of events, because the painting in question is many centuries old and a lot happened over those years. I was left with even more questions than I started out with, but maybe that's a good thing because now I will probab...more

like · see review

Mar 16, 2012 Marie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc

It took me a long time to read this book and I'm really not sure why. The book was thorough, organized well and on a topic that interested me. So why on earth did it take me so long to get through it?

Someone mentioned it in their review too, that the author tended to digress. I agree with this. I feel like the overall book had a lot of good information, but it was presented in a round about, wordy kind of way. I think with a more exacting editor this book could be stream lined into a more intere...more

like · see review

Mar 14, 2012 Newport Librarians rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ms-kathy, ya-non-fiction

Jan van Eyck's 1432 multi-panelled oil masterpiece depicting Adam and Eve, the Annunciation, judges, pilgrims, popes, martyrs, the Lamb of God, and more, all in splendid color and detail and known as the Ghent Altarpiece, may be considered the first oil painting and is certainly one of the world's recognized treasures. Art historian Noah Charney does a fine job explaining the importance of van Eyck's 24 scenes to the general reader. But the story of the altarpiece really springs to life when he...more

like · see review

Jul 23, 2012 Amblingbooks.com marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, arts-entertainment, history, true, crime

The gripping, six-century history of the world's most frequently stolen masterpiece, as told by Noah Charney, whom the New York Times Magazine called a pioneer in 'apply[ing] to art thefts the techniques of criminal profiling.'

Listen to Stealing the Mystic Lamb on your smartphone, notebook or desktop computer.

like · see review

May 06, 2012 Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars

returning for now... just not into it enough .... parts are interesting.. fascinating how intellectual is the Ghent altarpiece... that Van Eyck was assisted by a scholar (had to be) so he could include all the remote/deep references in the work... amazing how advanced it was... how many times it was stolen... what Hitler and ? were doing to steal the best European... Hitler loved the Nederlandish artists

like · see review

Sep 24, 2012 Lucas Tingle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed Charney's multifaceted exploration of the Van Eyck masterpiece: from renaissance humanism, to the foundation of modern day museums, and then a secret mission to protect the 1000s of master works of oil painting, manuscripts, and sculpture from nearly being destroyed by the Nazis. An excellent read about a truly astounding piece of western culture.

like · see review

Jan 16, 2011 Marcia added it

This is a wonderful book for anyone who loves art....the artist, the work, or how it affects people over the centuries. I have a renewed appreciation for Jan Van Eyck and for the Ghent Altarpiece.....and the stories of the work itself is fascinating! I read this on my Kindle and found it much more interesting once I printed off some colored images. I wonder what the next twist will be to this story?

like · see review

Jan 05, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Had never heard of this story, or knew much about the art piece. Another story proving that truth is better than fiction. John Grisham and Tom Clancy can't tell a story better than these for me.

like · see review

May 25, 2011 Alan Partlow rated it 4 of 5 stars

A well written and compelling tale of the history of one of our greatest masterpieces and the lengths people have gone to to steal or destroy it. Highly recommend.

like · see review

Aug 31, 2012 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

For me, the book stopped being interesting when it reached the 20th century.Up until then I thought it was fascinating.

like · see review

Aug 19, 2011 LuAnn added it

I love art history books. This one is even more interesting because of all the things that have happened to this painting.

like · see review

May 16, 2012 Tomlikeslife rated it 4 of 5 stars

Gives you a whole new appreciation of the famous works arts hanging in galleries all over the world.

like · see review

Jan 23, 2012 peaseblossom rated it 3 of 5 stars

http://peaseblossom.typepad.com/drown...

like · see review

Jan 04, 2012 J rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked the book because I love art and I was able to see the altarpiece in 2001.

like · see review

Feb 02, 2011 Patricia rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Pat Fitzpatrick, Becky Daroff, all art lovers

Shelves: art-history

This is an excellent look at the history of art theft told by looking at the incredible history of one monumental painting, Jan Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece, also knowns as The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. Charney must be a wonderful professor; he makes this story read like a novel and keeps you riveted up until the very end. I read this as a "train book" and nearly missed my stop one night when I was totally engrossed. Charney's first book was a novel, The Art Thief. I liked it, but I hope he w...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 08, 2012 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Ugh! This book is so interesting, and now I have to set it aside for two months for my J / YA only Librarian's Read Challenge which starts tomorrow. I'll definitely be getting back to this one the first week of March.

Hoorah! Back to my grown-up book!

Update: You know, I was so looking forward to getting back to this book, but now I find it kind of boring. I think the author spends too much time going off on tangents rather than focusing primarily on Van Eyck's painting. This is more of a 2.5 for...more

like · see review

May 24, 2011 Lydia rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you could give half stars this would receive a 3.5 star....kept going back and forth between 3 & 4 stars. I had never heard of "The Ghent Altarpiece" or "The Mystic Lamb" and loved learning so much about it. I thought it's history of being stolen was fascinating. In fact, I liked learning so much about the history of artwork in general being stolen and used in war time. The only thing was during those detailed times...it got a little too bogged down in the detail of how art has been treat...more

like · see review

Nov 29, 2011 Nancy Moffett rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am so glad to be finally finished this book! It was our inspiration to make a trip to Ghent to see the Mystic Lamb, which we did in October. I must admit I didn't read straight through the book - took a few breaks - but I learned a lot from reading it, not about the painting, but about how art is stolen. Interesting. It was well written, and I enjoyed reading it. Just not a gripping page-turner for me.

like · see review

Nov 29, 2011 Janette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, nonfiction

There seems to be a whole in my art education because I had never heard of the Ghent Altarpiece or the Mystic Lamb which is a section of this amazing pre-Renaissance art piece. A great story of the artist and the history of its appeal to so many nations who have stolen it. I learned a great deal about the art itself as well as its incredible journey. Now I need to go to Belgium to see it!!!

like · see review

Oct 30, 2011 Annette rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: unfinished

Way too slow

like · see review

Jan 02, 2012 Dariggle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good précis for an understanding of western art history from the 15th to 20th centuries.

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 17 18 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Art Crime: Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece	1	4	Mar 31, 2012 04:34pm

combine
Other Editions (11)

More editions...

Genres

Art

15 users

History

15 users

Non Fiction

14 users

Art > Art History

8 users

Crime > True Crime

6 users

Mystery > Crime

5 users

Cultural > Belgium

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Noah Charney

Noah Charney holds degrees in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and Cambridge University. He is the founding director of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA), the first international think tank on art crime. He divides his time between New Haven, Connecticut; Cambridge, England; and Rome, Italy.

More about Noah Charney...

Books by Noah Charney

Art and Crime: Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Stealing the Myst...

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

title link	preview: Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece
avg rating	preview: Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece Goodreads rating: 3.59 (152 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8430817-stealing-the-mystic-lamb?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343698568l/8430817.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8430817-stealing-the-mystic-lamb?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece by Noah Charney[/url]

Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website