Recent research reveals Christus, long seen only in his great master's light, as an independent painter whose work shows clear influences from, among others, Dirk Bouts, Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden.
It is still unknown whether Christus visited Italy, and brought the style and technical accomplishments of the greatest Northern European painters directly to Antonello da Messina and other Italian artists, or whether his paintings were purchased by Italians. The composition of a Lamentation now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art so closely inspired a marble relief by Antonello Gagini in the cathedral at Palermo that it has been suggested that the picture may have been painted for an Italian client.
The reserved Portrait of a Young Girl belongs among the masterworks of Flemish painting, marking a new development phase in Netherlandish portrait art. It no longer shows the sitter in front of an indefinite backgrond, but in a concrete space defined by the wall panels. The unknown woman, whose exquisite clothing suggests that she might come from France, radiates an aura of discretion and of nobility, while appearing slightly unreal in the elegant stylization of her form.
Signed and dated works
Christus produced at least six signed and dated works, which form the basis for any other attributions to him. These are: the Portrait of Edward Grymeston (on loan to the National Gallery, London, 1446), the Portrait of a Carthusian (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1446), the so-called St. Eligius in His Shop (Metropolitan Museum of Art [Robert Lehman Collection], New York, 1449), the Virgin Nursing the Child (now in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, 1449), the so-called "Berlin Altar Wings" with the Annunciation, Nativity, and Last Judgment (Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1452), and the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Jerome and Francis (Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1457?--the digits are not clear). In addition, a pair of panels in the Groeningemuseum in Bruges (showing the Annunciation and Nativity) bears a date of 1452, but its authenticity is suspect.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrus_Christus
Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License
| Studied under Jan van Eyck |
