Being self-taught, Fernand D'Haene made his first brushstroke in 1971, still painting now and then. In 1989 he began to paint with more passion. Fernand was an ardent admirer of Jan Vermeer, whose work he copied many times. From 1991 he began to paint his own creations, as a result of the personal painting technique, his works are a modern-impressionistic power that reveals itself in his tableaus and portraits. His reproduction of the Lamb Of God : Everything began with a visit to the saint-baafs-cathedral in Ghent. His family challenged him to paint the 'Lamb Of God' of the brothers Van Eyck. It wasn't easy, you are not allowed to take pictures of the painting in the cathedral, so he bought all possible postcards and posters. The most difficult thing was the colors. He went back 84 times to see the real 'Lamb Of God'. Each time he took some color samples with him to compare. He finished every pannel completely, painted front-and-backside, put three covers of varnish on it and placed it in a frame, before he began to paint the next one. He didn't paint on oak wood like the brothers Van Eyck, because the kind of dry oak of 1432 is now not available anymore and the chance that it would burst is too big. The colors of the reproduction are also a bit brighter than the original work in the Saint-Baafs-Cathedral, but that is only a problem of time. You can also see the pannel of the 'Fair Judges' on the reproduction. The only difference with the original painting is the appearance of the king. Fernand D'Haene allowed himself one artistic freedom: One little tile on the pannel of 'The Singing Angels' mentions his initials instead of the original. Sometimes Fernand was really tired of this huge work and then he seeked some diversion by painting a work of his own.

About 'Lamb Of God'

Historical Overview - The alderman from Gent, Jacobus Vijd, asked the Brothers Jan and Hubert Van Eyck to paint a triptych for the chapel of the Saint-Jan-Church in Gent. This triptych was finished in 1432. The population and the digniteries of the city were very proud. They celebrated this happening more than once. It's a great miracle that all the panels are still all together because they survived some turbulent times : the iconoclastic fury (the panels were hided), the French Revolution (where they were hided somewhere else), some panels had been sold and then bought back, the Treaty of Versailles, the Second World War (where the Germans took the panels), they were even kept a while in a salt mine in Alt-Aussee. All the panels returned to the Cathedral in 1945. But, during the night of 10th and 11th of April 1934 the famous panels 'The fair Judges' and 'John the Baptist' were stolen. The Bishop of Gent received a blackmail letter signed with the initials D.U.A. The result : A lot of investigations, many searches and negotiations. But they didn't find them back. The blackmailer couldn't agree with the church. The most important suspect was an exchange broker, Arsene Goedertier, from a little village named Wetteren. When he died, he claimed to know exactly where the panels were hidden. But in fact there was no result and even many years later, people were still guessing, searching for possibilities. Even today, there is still a big interest for the famous triptych in the Cathedral of Gent. Especially foreign tourists and students are interested in the paintings and their great history. The stolen panels never returned, they were replaced by beautiful reproductions.

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L.E. Lithographs

Balyshev Nikolaj