Christus, Petrus

(c. 1410-1472/1473)

   Flemish painter who continued Jan van Eyck's style, which has prompted scholars to suggest that he was van Eyck's pupil. Petrus Christus is first documented in 1444, when he was granted citizenship in Bruges. In 1454, he was commissioned by the Count of Etampes to render three copies of an image of the Virgin in Cambrai said to have effected miracles. In 1457, a Piero of Bruges is recorded in the Sforza court of Milan, though it is not certain if he is the same Petrus Christus who was active in the North. Petrus' Exeter Madonna (1444; Berlin, Staatliche Museen) and Nativity (c. 1445; Washington, National Gallery) are among his earliest extant works. The first borrows elements from van Eyck's Madonna with the Chancellor Nicolas Rolin (c. 1433; Paris Louvre) and the second unites Eyckian features, particularly the treatment of the kneeling angels, with Rogier van der Weyden's treatment of architecture. The swooning Virgin and mourners clasping their hands together in Petrus' Lamentation (c. 1448; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts) recall like features in van der Weyden's Deposition (c. 1438; Madrid, Prado). His St. Eligius as a Goldsmith (1449; New York, Metropolitan Museum) presents the metalsmith in his shop selling a wedding ring he weighs on a hand-held scale to a young couple. A girdle used for wedding ceremonies rests on the shop counter in the foreground. Also on the counter is a convex mirror that reflects the market square where the shop is located, as well as two male figures who look in—a feature that calls to mind van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding Portrait (1434; London, National Gallery). With the mirror, Petrus, like van Eyck, cleverly united the pictorial space with that occupied by viewers. Petrus was also an accomplished portraitist. His Portrait of a Carthusian (c. 1446; New York, Metropolitan Museum) shows the man behind a parapet upon which perches a fly. Some have suggested that the insect is there as reminder of the transience of life, though it could be that Petrus was simply showing his ability to fool the eye.