Ghent

Ghent, a city in Flanders, Belgium, is the original home of one of the most famous stolen artworks in history: the panel "The Just Judges" from the van Eyck altarpiece "The Adoration of the Lamb" in St. Bavon Cathedral. The theft of this panel in 1934 sets in motion a chain of events that culminates in the panel's arrival in Amsterdam, where it becomes a key prop in Jean-Baptiste Clamence's self-styled role as a judge-penitent. The city thus represents a lost origin of artistic and judicial integrity, a point of departure for a relic that, in its displacement, comes to symbolize the separation of justice from innocence.

The Theft and Its Aftermath

The panel "The Just Judges" was stolen from St. Bavon Cathedral in Ghent in 1934. It was replaced by an excellent copy, as the original was never recovered by authorities. The panel eventually found its way to Amsterdam, where a frequenter of the Mexico City bar sold it to the establishment's owner, the ape-like bartender, for a bottle of gin during a drunken evening. Clamence, who had become a regular at the bar, first advised the bartender to hang the painting 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.

Clamence's Possession and Justification

Clamence later convinced the bartender to entrust the panel to his custody, and it now hangs in his bare room, which he describes as being like a coffin. When asked why he does not return the panel, Clamence offers a series of justifications: first, that it belongs not to him but to the proprietor of Mexico City, who deserves it as much as the Archbishop of Ghent; second, that 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, that by possessing the true panel while the world admires a false one, he dominates; fourth, that harboring the painting gives him a chance of being sent to prison, an attractive idea; fifth, that 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 unknown justice; and finally, that this way everything is in harmony, with justice being definitively separated from innocence—the latter on the cross and the former in the cupboard.

Symbolic Significance

For Clamence, the stolen panel of "The Just Judges" represents the definitive separation of justice from innocence. He keeps the true judges hidden in his cupboard while the world venerates a copy, a situation that mirrors his own philosophy: that all are guilty, that innocence is a lost concept, and that the only power lies in judging others while oneself remaining unjudged. The panel thus becomes a physical manifestation of his worldview, a secret treasure that allows him to feel that he alone knows the truth while the rest of humanity is deceived. The theft and its aftermath also connect Ghent to the broader themes of the novel, as Clamence's possession of the panel is part of his elaborate scheme to avoid judgment by extending condemnation to all.