With the 1913 World's Fair approaching, the architect Valentin Vaerwyck and the sculptor Geo Verbanck were commissioned in early July 1912 to create a monument in memory of the 15th-century painters Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck. The client was Alderman Joseph Casier [2], chairman of the Municipal Commission for Monuments and Cityscapes and director of the World Fair. [3]
Vaerwyck was responsible for the architectural execution and Verbanck for the sculpture. They made a design for a monument in which the Mystic Lamb was central, a well-known altarpiece by the Van Eyck brothers in Ghent's Saint Bavo Cathedral. However, this design was rejected. In their new and finally approved design, the two brothers are the central figures.
International money was collected for the realization of the monument. Those who registered for sufficient money could claim a commemorative medal made by the sculptor Jules Jourdain. [4]
The whole was placed on the Geraard De Duivelhof, a triangular square in the immediate vicinity of St. Bavo's Cathedral. The sculpture group has its back to the Vijd Chapel, where the Ghent Altarpiece originally hung.
The monument was unveiled on August 9, 1913, on the occasion of the International Congress of the Society for History and Archeology, in the presence of, among others, King Albert I, organizers of the world exhibition, authorities of the province and the city of Ghent and representatives of various art academies at home and abroad. [5]
The monument was restored in 2013-2015, whereby, among other things, the 19 coats of arms on the sides and back were given a new enamel layer. [6]