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100

P. Coremans, The recouery...,

I.c.. p. 179. Howe, o.c., p. 148. voir n° 98.

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Howe. o.c., p. 148 : ...The big panel representing St. John had split lenghlwise willi the grain of łhe wood. This had happened at the minę. Sieber repaired it, and George [Lt. G. L. Stout] said he had done a good job...

102

P. Coremans, The recouery..., l.c., p. 179. Howe, o.c., p. 144 : ...We boarded łhe łrain again and rumbled along a dark tunnel to the Minerał Kabinett, one o/ the smaller minę chambers. Again there was an iron door to be unlocked. We walked through a uestibule into a Iow ceilinged room about twenty feet sąuare. The walls were light partitions o/ unfinished lumber. Ranged about them were the panels of the great Ghent Altarpiece >— the Adoralion of the Mystic Lamb — their jewel-like beauty undimmed after fiue hundred years. The colors were as resplendent as the day thcy were painted by Hubert and John van Eyck in /432... Voir Ies photographies des panneaux tels qu’ils ćtaient placćs dans la minę, idem, p. 57 et P. Coremans, La protection scientifiąue des ceuures d'arl en temps de guerre, Bruxelles, 1946, pi. 19. On remarąuc sur la pholographie publiće par Howe quclques-uns des morccaux de papier de soic qui protćgcaient Ies boursouflures. Voir n° 98.

Dans la minę, la tempćrature (cnviron 7° C) et IbumidUć rclative (environ 70 %) ćtaient constantes. P. Coremans, o.c., p. 26.

Lćtat des panncaux aprds Icurs pćrćgrinations et Ieur sćjour a Alt-Aussee fut constatć par P. Coremans et consignć dans une notę descriptive en datę du 5 scptembrc 1945. Nous jugeons inutilc de reprcndrc ce document puisque la plupart dc ses donnćes scront repriscs dans Ic chapitre consacrć a l ćtat matćriel du poIyptyquc avant Ic traitcment de 1950-1951. Nous nous bornons a en citer Ies conclusions : En resume, on peut affirmer que le Polyptyąuc n a soufferl ąue tres legórement de ses diffórents uoyages et sójours de 1940 a 1944. II faudra cependant ueiller d ce ąue les diffórents panncaux soient confiós d un restaurateur compółent, qui soignera le uernis pensons d Varrachement de pigment a la suitę de la degradation du uernis traitera les soulóuements de surface et restaurera les endroits o u des chocs ont blesse la couche picturale et ou les planchcs se sont separóes. G est la un programme minimum quil faudrait realiser sans retard sous la surueillance du laboratoire.

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P. Coremans et A. Janssens de Bisthoyen, Van Eyck, lAdoration de 1'Agneau Mystique, Anvers,

1948, p. 21.

Howe, o.c., p. 159-161, parlant de I cxtraction des panncaux dc la minc : ...Euery possible precaulion would haue to be taken to make this operation a succcss. lt must go off withoul a hitch... This truck and the one which was to carry the altarpiece had been put in perfect condition. And George [Stout] had put the fear of God into the two driuers bolh of whom he had personally chosen from our crew... I called Lamont, and the two of us, followed by eight of the gnomes, hitchcd four of the „dogs” to the littlc engine and proceeded to the Minerał Kabinett. One of the ,,dogs\ cspecially designed to carry pictures    of unusual height, had a    lower bed than the others.    We    would    use this one for the big

central panel    of the altarpiece. Otherwise it would not elear a portion    of the    minę tunnel where the

jagged rocks    hung Iow ouer the track.    The panels were now in    their    cases,    and it was a relatiuely

simple malter    to carry them from the    storage room to the train.    We    had to make two trips down

and back in order to geł all ten cases up to the minę entrance. They were much lighter than the statuę |MicbeI-Ange dc Bruges] but the loading was a morę exacting undertaking. Lashing them upright in parallel rows, in the truck, and stowing cases on either side for ballast, took tima. We didnt finish until well after six. lt had taken most of the day to load the „gold seal products ”. That night we held a conference in George s room. He was to go to Munich the next morning with the conuoy to superuise the unloading...

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