The strange history of the world's most stolen painting - Noah Charney

翻译人员: Lexi Ding 校对人员: Helen Chang

六个世纪以来，

Throughout six centuries, the Ghent Altarpiece

根特祭坛画在三场战争中 经历过焚烧、伪造和劫掠。

has been burned, forged, and raided in three different wars.

It is, in fact, the world’s most stolen artwork.

事实上，它堪称 世界被盗艺术品之最。

And while it’s told some of its secrets, it’s kept others hidden.

它在诉说着一些秘密的同时， 也隐藏着一些秘密。

In 1934, the police of Ghent, Belgium heard that one of the Altarpiece’s panels,

1934年，比利时根特市的警察 得知这组祭坛画中的一块，

split between its front and back, was suddenly gone.

就是前后两部分裂开那块， 突然不见了。

The commissioner investigated the scene

警长调查了案发现场，

but determined that a theft at a cheese shop was more pressing.

但他认为与之相比，发生在 一家奶酪店的盗窃案更加紧迫。

Twelve ransom notes appeared over the following months

接下来的几个月里， 警方收到了12封勒索信，

and one half of the panel was even returned as a show of good faith.

盗贼甚至还了一半画屏回来， 以此来展现善意。

Meanwhile, art restorer Jef van der Veken

同时，艺术品修复师杰夫·范德维肯

made a replica of the other half for display until it was found.

复制了另外半块，用于在真迹 被寻回前，代替其进行展出，

But it never was.

但是真画再未现世。

Some suspected that he was involved in the theft and,

有人怀疑这位修复师 参与了盗窃，

勒索失败之后，

once ransom demands failed,

had simply painted over the original and presented it as his copy.

他就在原作上涂涂抹抹， 把它当成复制品现于人前。

But a definitive answer wouldn’t come for decades.

但数十年来，这个问题 一直没有确切答案。

Just six years later, Hitler was planning a grand museum,

6年之后，希特勒计划 修建一座宏伟的博物馆，

but was missing his most desired possession: the Ghent Altarpiece.

但错过了他自己最渴望的宝贝： 根特祭坛画。

As Nazi forces advanced, Belgian leaders sent the painting to France.

随着纳粹军队一路猛进， 比利时领导人将祭坛画送往了法国。

But the Nazis commandeered and moved it to a salt mine

但却被纳粹霸占了， 并搬到了一座盐矿中，

converted into a stolen art warehouse that contained over 6,000 masterpieces.

这座盐矿被改造成了艺术品仓库， 存放着6,000多幅偷来的艺术品。

Near the war’s end in 1945,

1945年二战即将结束时，

a Nazi official decided he’d rather blow up the mine

一位纳粹军官决定 他宁愿炸毁这座盐矿

before letting it fall into Allied hands.

也不要任其落入同盟国手中。

In fact, the Allies had soldiers called Monuments Men

事实上，同盟国中 有专门的古迹卫士，

who were tasked with protecting cultural treasures.

保护文化珍宝就是 他们的职责所在。

Two of them were stationed 570 kilometers away when one got a toothache.

当时有两名卫士驻扎在离盐矿 570公里处，其中一人牙疼起来。

They visited a local dentist,

他们去看了当地的牙医，

who mentioned that his son-in-law also loved art and took them to meet him.

牙医提到自己的女婿也热爱艺术品， 还带他们与之见了一面。

They discovered that he was actually one of the Nazi’s former art advisors,

卫士们发现这个人其实是 纳粹军队的前艺术顾问之一，

now in hiding.

现在在东躲西藏。

And miraculously, he told them everything.

出人意料地，他对卫士们坦白了一切。

The Monuments Men devised a plan to rescue the art

古迹卫士制定了 一个艺术品拯救计划

and the local Resistance delayed the mine’s destruction until they arrived.

当地的敌军秘密抵抗组织推迟了 盐矿炸毁时间，直到卫士们赶到。

Inside, they found the Altarpiece among other world treasures.

在盐矿中，他们发现了祭坛画， 混在其他世界珍宝当中。

The Ghent Altarpiece,

根特祭坛画，

also called "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" after its central subject,

因其中心主题，又名 “神秘羔羊的崇拜”，

consists of 12 panels depicting the Biblical story.

它由12块画屏组成， 刻画的是圣经故事。

It’s one of the most influential artworks ever made.

它是有史以来最具影响力的 艺术作品之一。

When Jan van Eyck completed it in Ghent in 1432,

自1432年扬·凡·艾克 于根特市完成创作

it was immediately deemed the best painting in Europe.

这幅画立时便获得 欧洲画作之最的美誉。

For millennia, artists used tempera paint consisting of ground pigment in egg yolk,

数千年来，艺术家们使用 蛋黄中的粉末填充剂做成的蛋彩涂料，

which created vivid but opaque colors.

创造出鲜艳但不透明的色彩。

The Altarpiece was the first to showcase the unique abilities of oil paint.

根特祭坛画是第一副展现 油画颜料特性的画作。

They allowed van Eyck to capture light and movement

得益于这些特性，凡·艾克能够 以一种前所未有的方式

in a way that had never been seen before.

在画作中展现光线和动作。

He did this using brushes sometimes as tiny as a single badger hair.

有时，他用细小如獾毛的刷子 来完成这些部分。

And by depicting details like Ghent landmarks,

通过刻画 如根特市地标、

botanically identifiable flowers, and lifelike faces,

植物学属性清晰可辨的花朵 和栩栩如生的面孔这些细节，

the Altarpiece pioneered an artistic mode that would come to be known as Realism.

这幅祭坛画开创了 现实主义的艺术形式先河。

但是，2019年完成的 文物保护工作发现，几世纪以来，

Yet, conservation work completed in 2019 found that, for centuries,

people had been viewing a dramatically altered version.

人们所看到的这幅画 其实是改动巨大的修改版。

Due to dozens of restorations,

由于大量修复，

as much as 70% of certain sections had been painted over.

多达70%的部分 被掩盖了。

As conservators removed these layers of paint, varnish, and grime,

当文物保护工作者们去除 重绘的画层、除去清漆和污垢，

they discovered vibrant colors and whole buildings that had long been invisible.

他们看到了鲜艳的色彩 和长期被掩盖的完整建筑物。

Other details were more unsettling.

其他的细节则更令人不安。

The mystic lamb’s four ears had long perplexed viewers.

神秘羔羊的四只耳朵 困惑了人们很久。

But the conservation team revealed that the second pair

但是文物保护团队揭开了谜底， 原来羔羊的第二对耳朵

was actually a pentimento—

其实是原画重现——

the ghost of underlying layers of paint that emerge as newer ones fade.

新画层褪色后显现出的 下层画痕的重影。

修复人员曾用他们认为 更好看的版本

Restorers had painted over the original lamb

with what they deemed a more palatable version.

在原版羔羊 上面重新绘画。

They removed this overpainting

文物保护工作者们去除了复绘层，

and discovered the original to be shockingly humanoid.

发现原版羔羊 酷似人类。

The conservators also finally determined whether van der Veken

他们还最终判定出 范德维肯

had simply returned the missing panel from 1934.

是否还回了1934年 丢失的画屏。

He hadn’t.

并没有。

It was confirmed to be a copy, meaning the original is still missing.

那块画屏被证实为仿品， 也就是说原作仍下落不明。

But there was one final clue.

但还有一个终极线索。

A Ghent stockbroker, while on his deathbed a year after the theft,

画屏盗窃案发生一年后， 根特的一位股票经纪人在其弥留之际，

revealed an unsent ransom note.

透露了一张未寄出的勒索信。

It reads:

上面写着：

it “rests in a place where neither I, nor anybody else,

这块画屏“安放在一个 不论是我，还是其他任何人

can take it away without arousing the attention of the public.”

都无法在不引起公众注意的 情况下将其取出的地方。

A Ghent detective remains assigned to the case but,

一位根特侦探 仍受雇调查此案，

while there are new tips every year, it has yet to be found.

但即使每年都有新的消息传出， 这块画屏仍未被找到。