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The ways in which the Portrait of a Carthusian differs from Van Eyck’s representations show the innovations Christus brought to Flemish portraiture. Instead of employing a uniformly dark, anonymous setting, Christus set off the white-robed figure with a warm red, ambiguous background.
Petrus Christus was a South Netherlandish painter who reputedly introduced geometric perspective into the Netherlands. In 1444 Christus became a citizen of Bruges, where he worked until his death. He is believed to have been trained in Jan van Eyck’s studio.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The leading painter of Bruges following Jan van Eyck’s death in 1441, Christus moved beyond the flat neutral backgrounds of his predecessor’s portraits. The illusionistic inscription underscores the verisimilitude of the portrait, declaring: "Petrus Christus made me in the year 1446."
Portrait of a Carthusian is a painting in oils on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus in 1446. The work is part of the Jules Bache Collection housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
The best known include the Portrait of a Carthusian (1446) and Portrait of a Young Girl (c. 1470); both are highly innovative in the presentation of the figure against detailed, rather than flat, backgrounds.
Portrait of a Carthusian. Another famous piece from Christus, this painting features a beautifully crafted portrait, complete with an intricate, lifelike beard. There is also a fly perched on the bottom of the frame, delivered in a playful manner which was highly innovative for the period.
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That's the very typical, incredible attention to texture and detail that's so characteristic of Flemish portrait painting in addition to we're talking about portraiture in the 1440's, the fact that it's in a three-quarter profile with light coming from multiple directions.
- 7 min
- Beth Harris,Steven Zucker
