Few works have been so closely examined, copied, and debated as the angelic panels from the Ghent Altarpiece, known as Music-making Angels by Jan van Eyck. For centuries, these angels—painted around 1432—have fascinated viewers not only for their exquisite detail but also for the technical mystery of their medium: while oil painting is widely credited to van Eyck, scholars still debate the precise methods and materials he used here. The panels’ dazzling realism and jewel-like surfaces led 16th-century viewers to marvel that "the colors seem to be made of liquid gems," as one early visitor wrote. The angels are caught in a moment of celestial music-making, their faces intent and hands poised on lutes, organs, and songbooks.

Each figure is adorned with intricate brocade robes and peacock-feathered wings, their golden curls crowned by delicate filigree. The music they play is not just for earthly ears but a visual hymn of praise, echoing the heavenly choir described in the Book of Revelation. Unlike the more restrained angels of Fra Angelico, van Eyck’s musicians are individualized, each absorbed in the act of performance, their gestures and expressions revealing both concentration and joy.

The play of light on their garments and instruments transforms the panel into a vision of divine celebration. Commissioned by the wealthy merchant Jodocus Vijd for St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, the Ghent Altarpiece—of which Music-making Angels is a part—has survived iconoclasm, theft, and war. Over the centuries, the panels have been removed, hidden, and restored, most famously stolen by Napoleon’s troops and again by the Nazis during World War II, before being recovered and returned to Belgium.

Today, the angels can be seen in their original setting, newly restored, their colors and details as vivid as when van Eyck painted them. The panels remain a testament to van Eyck’s technical innovation and his ability to make the invisible world of faith dazzlingly present.