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Flanders Celebrates the Year of Jan Van Eyck Virtually

A cameraman films the restored original of 'Adoration Of The Mystic Lamb' altarpiece (1432) by the brothers and Flemish artists Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK) in Ghent, Belgium. Photo: AFP
A cameraman films the restored original of 'Adoration Of The Mystic Lamb' altarpiece (1432) by the brothers and Flemish artists Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK) in Ghent, Belgium. Photo: AFP
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Flanders Celebrates the Year of Jan Van Eyck Virtually

A cameraman films the restored original of 'Adoration Of The Mystic Lamb' altarpiece (1432) by the brothers and Flemish artists Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK) in Ghent, Belgium. Photo: AFP
A cameraman films the restored original of 'Adoration Of The Mystic Lamb' altarpiece (1432) by the brothers and Flemish artists Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK) in Ghent, Belgium. Photo: AFP

If the world has not closed due to the spread of the Corvid-19 virus, Belgium would now be celebrating the year of Jan van Eyck by holding exhibitions, concerts, theater performances and festivals.

On this occasion, the Flanders region had organized many events including a major exhibition of Jan van Eyck in Ghent, reported AFP.

Before closing its doors in line with the lockdown measures aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus, the exhibition dubbed "Van Eyck: Optical Revolution" held at the fine arts museum in Ghent received 130,000 visitors since its opening on February 1. Now, the museum offers art lovers the chance to enjoy the works of the Flemish artist despite the pandemic-related measures through a number of guided virtual tours.

Historian and curator expert Till-Holger Borchert recruited all his knowledge in the guidance of the virtual tour across the "stay home exhibition" on the vaneyck.2020be website.

According to the organizes, only around 20 of works of Van Eyck, a leading figure of early Netherlandish painting, are popular, and the "Van Eyck: Optical Revolution" features 13 of them, which make it the biggest exhibition displaying the artist's works.

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Scientists Unearth ‘Cute’ but Fearsome Ancient Whale 

In this photo taken on August 5, 2025 and released by Museums Victoria on August 13, 2025 shows Museums Victoria Researcher Ruairidh Duncan posing with an ear bone and partial fossil skull of Janjucetus dullardi, along with a reconstructed skull (L) and the fossil skull of Janjucetus hunderi (R) in Melbourne. (Tom Breakwell / Museums Victoria / AFP)
In this photo taken on August 5, 2025 and released by Museums Victoria on August 13, 2025 shows Museums Victoria Researcher Ruairidh Duncan posing with an ear bone and partial fossil skull of Janjucetus dullardi, along with a reconstructed skull (L) and the fossil skull of Janjucetus hunderi (R) in Melbourne. (Tom Breakwell / Museums Victoria / AFP)
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Scientists Unearth ‘Cute’ but Fearsome Ancient Whale 

In this photo taken on August 5, 2025 and released by Museums Victoria on August 13, 2025 shows Museums Victoria Researcher Ruairidh Duncan posing with an ear bone and partial fossil skull of Janjucetus dullardi, along with a reconstructed skull (L) and the fossil skull of Janjucetus hunderi (R) in Melbourne. (Tom Breakwell / Museums Victoria / AFP)
In this photo taken on August 5, 2025 and released by Museums Victoria on August 13, 2025 shows Museums Victoria Researcher Ruairidh Duncan posing with an ear bone and partial fossil skull of Janjucetus dullardi, along with a reconstructed skull (L) and the fossil skull of Janjucetus hunderi (R) in Melbourne. (Tom Breakwell / Museums Victoria / AFP)

Australian scientists have discovered a razor-toothed whale that prowled the seas 26 million years ago, saying Wednesday the species was "deceptively cute" but a fearsome predator.

Museums Victoria pieced together the species from an unusually well-preserved skull fossil found on Victoria's Surf Coast in 2019.

Scientists discovered a "fast, sharp-toothed predator" that would have been about the size of a dolphin.

"It's essentially a little whale with big eyes and a mouth full of sharp, slicing teeth," said researcher Ruairidh Duncan.

"Imagine the shark-like version of a baleen whale -- small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless."

The skull belonged to a group of prehistoric whales known as the mammalodontids, distant smaller relatives of today's filter-feeding whales.

It is the fourth mammalodontid species ever discovered, Museums Victoria said.

"This fossil opens a window into how ancient whales grew and changed, and how evolution shaped their bodies as they adapted to life in the sea," said paleontologist Erich Fitzgerald, who co-authored the study.

Victoria's Surf Coast lies on the Jan Juc Formation -- a geological feature dating to the Oligocene epoch between 23 and 30 million years ago.

A string of rare fossils have been unearthed along the scenic stretch of beach, a renowned site for the study of early whale evolution.

"This region was once a cradle for some of the most unusual whales in history, and we're only just beginning to uncover their stories," said Fitzgerald.

"We're entering a new phase of discovery.

"This region is rewriting the story of how whales came to rule the oceans, with some surprising plot twists."

The species was named Janjucetus dullardi, a nod to local Ross Dullard who stumbled across the skull while strolling the beach in 2019.

It was described in the peer-reviewed Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.