The Just Judges

Still missing, and now believed destroyed. This panel of van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece was stolen from St Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent on the night of April 10, 1934. The Bishop of Ghent then received a ransom demand for one million Belgian francs, and the sender returned one of the panel's two parts as a show of good faith. Arsène Goedertier, the presumed thief, told his lawyer on his deathbed that he was the only one who knew where it was hidden, and the secret went with him. Since 1945 a copy by the restorer Jef Van der Veken has filled the gap, so the altarpiece looks complete to most visitors.