CHRISTUS, Petrus Annunciation
new21/CHRISTUS, Petrus-798759.jpg 1452 Wood, 85,5 x 54,8 cm Groeninge Museum, Bruges Petrus Christus belonged to the same generation as Van der Weyden, but was perhaps a little younger. He came to Bruges from North Brabant, possibly after completing his initial training in Haarlem. His style is strongly modelled on that of Van Eyck and so there is good reason for suspecting he was Jan's apprentice, even though he did not purchase free citizenship of Bruges until three years after his putative master's death. The two panels by Christus, the Annunciation and the Nativity were quite badly worn, but painstakingly restored. Both of them are signed and dated (1452) and were probably painted as part of a triptych or polyptych. They reveal Christus as a precise designer of space and moulder of volumes. The figures in the Annunciation resemble statues arranged in a geometrically constructed show-case. It is the first painting in the Netherlands with a correct central perspective. , Artist: CHRISTUS, Petrus , Annunciation , 1451-1500 , Flemish , painting , religious
CHRISTUS, Petrus Nativity
new21/CHRISTUS, Petrus-666826.jpg 1452 Wood, 85,5 x 54,8 cm Groeninge Museum, Bruges The two panels by Christus, the Annunciation and the Nativity were quite badly worn, but painstakingly restored. Both of them are signed and dated (1452) and were probably painted as part of a triptych or polyptych. They reveal Christus as a precise designer of space and moulder of volumes. The figures in the Annunciation resemble statues arranged in a geometrically constructed show-case. It is the first painting in the Netherlands with a correct central perspective. , Artist: CHRISTUS, Petrus , Nativity , 1451-1500 , Flemish , painting , religious
CHRISTUS, Petrus Potrait of a Carthusian
new21/CHRISTUS, Petrus-968757.jpg 1446 Oil on wood, 29,2 x 21,6 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York In 1444, three years after the death of Jan van Eyck, Petrus Christus left his homeland in the northern Netherlands to settle in Bruges. This portrait, one of Christus's earliest signed and dated works, shows van Eyck's influence in the technical virtuosity of the trompe-l'oeil fly and the carved inscription. The sitter, once transformed into a saint by the addition of a halo, is an unknown lay brother of the Carthusian order. The fly is a symbol of decay, a reminder of man's mortality, but it also greatly enhances the fiction of a real person gazing at us from behind a stone ledge in which Christus's signature appears as an incised inscription. , Artist: CHRISTUS, Petrus , Potrait of a Carthusian , 1451-1500 , Flemish , painting , portrait
CHRISTUS, Petrus St Eligius in His Workshop
new21/CHRISTUS, Petrus-695438.jpg 1449 Oil on wood, 98 x 85 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York St Eligius, who was born c. 590 in Limousin, notably in the making of reliquaries has become one of the most popular saints of the Christian West. Ancient tradition credits him with extraordinary talent as a goldsmith. St Eligius in His Workshop remains to this day the best-known and best-loved painting of Petrus Christus. It shows two young fiances who have brought the patron saint of goldsmiths a quantity of precious metal to be melted down and fashioned into rings as token of their love. Christus gives us an extremely detailed representation of the goldsmith's shop. Not only are there all the instruments of the trade, but also many liturgical objects, carefully arranged on shelves. There is also a convex circular mirror on the right-hand side of St Eligius's table, in an obvious allusion to the Arnolfini Marriage by Jan van Eyk. In it we can see the reflection of a square, with a couple of passers-by. Although the presence of the saint gives the work a religious dimension, this remains essentially a genre painting: that is, a representation of secular and commercial activities, a scene from everyday life. , Artist: CHRISTUS, Petrus , St Eligius in His Workshop , 1451-1500 , Flemish , painting , religious
CHRISTUS, Petrus Madonna and Child
new21/CHRISTUS, Petrus-835979.jpg Oil on wood Staatliche Museen, Berlin The Madonna and Child is depicted with St Barbara and a Carthusian monk. , Artist: CHRISTUS, Petrus , Madonna and Child , 1451-1500 , Flemish , painting , religious
CHRISTUS, Petrus The Nativity
new21/CHRISTUS, Petrus-962685.jpg 1445 Wood, 130 x 97 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington The painter, a follower of Jan van Eyck, here illustrates the Biblical theme in terms of contemporary life in his native city of Bruges. Joseph, for example, is shown as a Flemish peasant who, realizing he is on holy ground, has removed his wooden clogs. Under the influence of Rogier van der Weyden, Christus has framed the scene with a sculptured archway, typical of late Gothic churches in Flanders. These simulated sculpture groups, depicting the stories in Genesis of man and his sin, illustrate the historical reason for the subject of the painting, the coming of Christ as the Redeemer. , Artist: CHRISTUS, Petrus , The Nativity , 1451-1500 , Flemish , painting , religious
CHRISTUS, Petrus Portait of a Young Man
new21/CHRISTUS, Petrus-296649.jpg 1460 Wood, 35,5 x 26,3 cm National Gallery, London The painting is probably the left wing of a triptych. , Artist: CHRISTUS, Petrus , Portait of a Young Man , 1451-1500 , Flemish , painting , portrait
CHRISTUS, Petrus Portrait of a Young Girl after
new21/CHRISTUS, Petrus-474472.jpg 29 x 22,5 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin Although the general quality of Petrus Christus's work is in doubt, a single painting, generally dated from the end of his active life, is convincing. It is the Portrait of a Young Girl in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. The surface has the brilliance of porcelain and the purity of the overall effect looks forward to Vermeer. The lively expression of the girl and her oblique glance, suggesting that something or someone just outside the frame has caught her attention, contrasts with the frontal composition. The pink of her cheeks and lips introduces some warmth into the face, while the pure white and brown-black of the eyes echo the underlying tones of the wall behind her. Petrus Christus's portraits were once condescendingly described as rough-hewn and stilted. Yet this young girl is surely closer to Upton's description of her: "a polished pearl, almost opalescent, lying on a cushion of black velvet". , Artist: CHRISTUS, Petrus , Portrait of a Young Girl , 1451-1500 , Flemish , painting , portrait