1934

The year 1934 is the date of a famous art theft that becomes a pivotal symbol in Jean-Baptiste Clamence's confession. In that year, one of the panels of the van Eyck altarpiece "The Adoration of the Lamb" was stolen from St. Bavon Cathedral in Ghent. The panel, called "The Just Judges," depicted judges on horseback coming to adore the sacred animal. It was replaced by an excellent copy, for the original was never found. Clamence reveals that the original panel eventually came into his possession through a frequenter of Mexico City, who sold it to the ape—the bar's owner—for a bottle one drunken evening. Clamence first advised the ape to hang it in a place of honor, and for a long time, while the panel was being sought throughout the world, the devout judges sat enthroned at Mexico City above the drunks and pimps. Later, at Clamence's request, the ape put it in custody in Clamence's room, balking a little but getting a fright when Clamence explained the matter. Since then, these estimable magistrates form Clamence's sole company. At Mexico City, above the bar, the empty rectangle marking the place where the picture had been taken down remains visible.

The Theft and Its Symbolic Meaning

The theft of "The Just Judges" in 1934 is not merely a historical crime but a foundational metaphor for Clamence's worldview. He offers a series of reasons for not returning the panel, each revealing a layer of his philosophy. First, he claims it belongs not to him but to the proprietor of Mexico City, who deserves it as much as the Archbishop of Ghent. Second, among all those who file by "The Adoration of the Lamb," no one could distinguish the copy from the original, so no one is wronged by his misconduct. Third, by keeping the panel, he dominates: false judges are held up to the world's admiration, and he alone knows the true ones. Fourth, he thus has a chance of being sent to prison—an attractive idea in a way. Fifth, those judges are on their way to meet the Lamb, but there is no more lamb or innocence, and the clever rascal who stole the panel was an instrument of the unknown justice that one ought not to thwart. Finally, this way everything is in harmony: justice being definitively separated from innocence—the latter on the cross and the former in the cupboard—Clamence has the way clear to work according to his convictions.

The Panel as a Mirror of Clamence's Condition

The year 1934, through the theft, becomes a temporal anchor for Clamence's own moral crisis. The stolen panel, hidden in his room, embodies the separation of justice from innocence that defines his existence. He keeps the painting as a secret possession, a symbol of his own hidden guilt and his power over the truth. The empty rectangle at Mexico City, where the panel once hung, is a visible void that mirrors the absence of genuine justice in the world. Clamence's harboring of the stolen panel is an act of defiance and a means of control: he alone knows the location of the true judges, while the world venerates a copy. This secret knowledge gives him a sense of superiority, allowing him to dominate from his self-appointed position as judge-penitent. The theft of 1934, therefore, is not just a past event but a continuing condition that structures Clamence's present, as he waits for a policeman to arrest him for the theft, hoping that this arrest would be a good beginning toward his salvation.

The Theft and the Theme of Judgment

The 1934 theft is intimately connected to Clamence's obsession with judgment. The panel depicts judges, and its theft represents the corruption and absence of true justice. Clamence's refusal to return it is a deliberate act of keeping justice captive. He states that justice being definitively separated from innocence—the latter on the cross and the former in the cupboard—allows him to practice the difficult profession of judge-penitent. The stolen judges become his sole company, and he uses them to justify his own role as a judge who condemns everyone. The year 1934 thus marks the moment when the possibility of authentic justice was stolen, leaving only the empty forms that Clamence manipulates. The theft is a historical event that Clamence appropriates to explain his own fall and his subsequent rise as a false prophet. It is a key fact that reveals how the world's order is ambiguous, and how the separation of justice from innocence is the precondition for his own dominion.