The Ambiguous Art of Hyperrestoration. The Case of Jef Van der Veken

A respected figure in the Belgium art world during the last decades of his lifetime, the Flemish restorer Jef Van der Veken (1872-1964) was for a long time mostly known to the greater public for his meticulous copy of the Ghent Altarpiece’s stolen panel of the Just Judges. In recent years, however, Van der Veken has become a controversial figure. Since the ‘full’ extent of his past conservation treatments of a significant number of panels by fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Masters from the Low Countries was revealed to the scholarly community, and presented to larger audiences in exhibitions and publications a few years ago, more critical attention has been paid to his legacy.