Remember this face?

Removal of 16th-century overpainting on the Ghent Altarpiece has revealed the lamb’s intense human-like features.

Since 2012, the website Closer to Van Eyck, supported by Getty Foundation, has made it possible to zoom in on the intricate details of the Ghent Altarpiece.

Today the site was updated and now includes images of newly restored sections of the paintings, plus new videos and more.

Notice the way light plays on the metal, the texture of the hairs, the detail on the armor. Artists Hubert and Jan van Eyck paid close attention to even the smallest details of the painting.

Even the ground displays extraordinary nuances, from waterlogged mud to soft sand and hard rocks scattered with gemstones, crystals, and coral.

Seventy-five individual species of plants in the paintings can now be identified by botanists, and the shadows of leaves, trees, and bushes offer a wondrous sense of depth and three-dimensionality.

Peek under the paint surface to see underdrawings—the first stages of the design of the compositions that reveal the artist's creative process.

The "Closer to van Eyck" website lets you toggle between infrared reflectography images, x-rays, and more.

http://closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be/ 

Read more about these new updates to "Closer to van Eyck." This project is funded by the @GettyFoundation, and is part of our work to ensure panel paintings (paintings on wood) survive for the next generation. https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/more-to-explore-as-the-ghent-altarpiece-website-gets-an-update/