The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present Restoration/Revelation: The Conservation Treatment of the “Ghent Altarpiece” as its Art Matters lecture, 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5, via Zoom. Thefree  talk will be given by Bart J.C. Devolder, chief conservator at the Princeton University Museum of Art.

“The Ghent Altarpiece” (1432) by Jan and Hubert van Eyck is one of the most iconic works of Western art as it embodies the birth of new skills and vision. The artwork itself is often claimed to be the most stolen painting in history, and in spite of its many voyages, it is a miracle that until this day only one panel is missing.

Still housed in Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, the site for which it was created, “The Ghent Altarpiece” or “Mystic Lamb” has undergone conservation and restoration treatment by the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels) since 2012. No one expected this restoration to turn into a revelation: the real Van Eyck had been hidden beneath overpaint for centuries.

In his lecture, Devolder shares remarkable discoveries from the first phase and second phase.

Tickets available online at tickets.sbma.net.