Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament panel. The church has two paintings by Bouts on display, the "Last Supper" (1464-1468) and the "Martyrdom of St Erasmus" (1465). The Nazis seized "The Last Supper" in 1942. Panels from the painting had been sold legitimately to German museums in the 1800s, and Germany was forced to return all the panels as part of the required reparations of the Versailles Treaty after World War I. The chancel and ambulatory were turned into a museum in 1998, where visitors can view a collection of sculptures, paintings and metalwork. Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament or Triptych
Early Netherlandish painting time. That hinged works could be opened and closed served a practical purpose; on religious holidays the more prosaic and everyday outer panels were replaced by the lush interior panels. The "Ghent Altarpiece", completed in 1432, had different configurations for weekdays, Sundays and church holidays. The first generation of Netherlandish masters borrowed many customs from 13th- and 14th-century Italian altarpieces. The conventions for Italian triptychs before 1400 were quite rigid. In central panels the mid-ground was populated by members of the Holy Family; early works, especially from the Sienese or Florentine traditions, were overwhelmingly characterised by images of the enthroned