"Is that really necessary?" A scholar of art asked me in surprise when I told him about my intention to revisit the issues related to the Ghent Altarpiece, its origins, and significance. Hardly any other single work of modern art has been written about and debated as much. The focus has primarily been on the history of the altar's creation and the biography of its creators. This was due to the time from which most of this literature originates, as well as the preserved reports and documents from which some very specific questions can be derived. For questions that resemble riddles, there is always an abundance of self-proclaimed experts and dilettantes who believe they have found the correct solution, and our art scholar would be completely right if it were only about that.