# Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration

Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration refers to the newly uncovered face of the Mystic Lamb in Jan and Hubert Van Eyck's 15th-century Flemish masterpiece, revealed after Belgian conservators stripped away 16th-century overpainting at the close of 2019. The humanoid eyes, square mouth and forward-facing stare looked nothing like the gentle sheep that had covered the panel for centuries. By late January 2020, Twitter users were posting the restored face alongside Potato Jesus comparisons and Drakeposting templates.

## Origin
The underlying event is the three-year, €2.2 million conservation project led by Belgium's Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA), which began in October 2012 inside a laboratory at Ghent's Museum of Fine Arts[1]. Conservators found that roughly 70% of the outer panels of the Ghent Altarpiece were obscured by 16th-century overpainting, and removing it revealed the Van Eyck brothers' original humanoid lamb[1]. The restored 'Adoration of the Mystic Lamb' returned to St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium at the close of 2019[1].

Online memes about the Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration trace to a tweet from @frajds on January 20, 2020, highlighting the restored face in a short thread that gained over 12,000 retweets and 59,000 likes[2]. That post set off the wider joke format[3].

- **Platform:** Belgian art conservation / Twitter (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2020

## Overview
Posts in this format typically show the humanoid lamb face next to a reaction image or meme template, with the joke resting on how unsettling the uncovered expression looks. @frajds's viral thread arranged close-up photos of the original versus restored faces as if announcing a horror discovery[2]. Follow-up jokes leaned into art-history humor, with users crediting the Van Eyck brothers for painting the Lamb of God with eyes that stare straight at the viewer[3].

Tone across the January 2020 posts was mock-reverent, mixing medieval art references with modern meme formats. Conservators from Belgium's Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage had worked on the panel since October 2012, and their report stressed that the lamb-like face was itself overpainting applied in the 16th century[1]. Internet users seized on that detail in Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration posts, joking that the 'real' lamb was the humanoid version all along[2].

## How to Use
Posts typically place the restored humanoid lamb face next to a reaction image, a different botched artwork like Potato Jesus, or a two-panel template such as Drakeposting[6]. The humor hinges on how different the lamb's forward-facing eyes and squared mouth look from the painted-over 16th-century sheep face viewers knew for centuries[1].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration?
It refers to the restored face of the Mystic Lamb in the Van Eyck brothers' 15th-century Ghent Altarpiece, uncovered in late 2019 after Belgian conservators removed 16th-century overpainting[1]. The humanoid face sparked a Twitter joke format in January 2020[2].

### Where did Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration come from?
The restoration was completed by Belgium's Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, and the panel returned to St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent at the end of 2019[1]. Online jokes about the Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration emerged on January 20, 2020, after @frajds posted the comparison on Twitter[2].

### What does Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration mean?
Online, the phrase points to the unexpectedly humanoid lamb face revealed under four centuries of overpainting[1]. Jokes typically place the face next to Potato Jesus or Drakeposting templates[4].

### How do you use Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration?
People typically post the restored face next to a different botched restoration or a two-panel template like Drakeposting[6]. The humor hinges on the lamb's forward-facing eyes and squared mouth[2].

### Is Ghent Altarpiece Lamb Restoration still popular?
Its viral run clustered around January 2020, when @frajds and @awesomecaboose posted the viral versions[2][5]. It functions now as a reference point for jokes about awkward art restorations alongside Potato Jesus[3].

## References
1. [https://aleteia.org/2019/12/24/restoration-of-ghent-altarpiece-reveals-surprising-face-on-the-lamb-of-god/](<https://aleteia.org/2019/12/24/restoration-of-ghent-altarpiece-reveals-surprising-face-on-the-lamb-of-god/>)
2. [https://twitter.com/frajds/status/1219125000550199301](<https://twitter.com/frajds/status/1219125000550199301>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ghent-altarpiece-lamb-restoration](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ghent-altarpiece-lamb-restoration>)
4. [https://twitter.com/GoingMedieval/status/1219261902569779202](<https://twitter.com/GoingMedieval/status/1219261902569779202>)
5. [https://twitter.com/awesomecaboose/status/1219132947678289921](<https://twitter.com/awesomecaboose/status/1219132947678289921>)
6. [https://twitter.com/StanBobOP/status/1219333807582498817](<https://twitter.com/StanBobOP/status/1219333807582498817>)
7. [https://twitter.com/i/events/1219568253590093824](<https://twitter.com/i/events/1219568253590093824>)

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