Petrus Christus
Flemish 1415-1473
Petrus Christus Locations
South Netherlandish painter.
His known artistic career began in Bruges on 6 July 1444 when, as the Poorterboek (citizens register) for that day reveals, he purchased his citizenship ... in order to be a painter. Town records show that he and his wife became members of the Confraternity of the Dry Tree c. 1462; that in 1463 he and another painter, Pieter Nachtegale, were paid for the construction of a Tree of Jesse (destr.) and for the cost of assistants employed on the day of the religious procession in which it was used; and that on 19 March 1472 he served as a representative of the painters guild in a dispute with another painter, Jehan de Hervy the elder ( fl 1472-1507). These and a few other scattered references comprise the existing documentation for Christusa life and work.
ID: 63561 Madonna 1445 Wood, 55,5 x 31,5 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest We know very little about the life of Petrus Christus, though it is certain that in 1444 he obtained the citizenship of Bruges, then the richest town in Flanders and its main artistic centre. He may have been the pupil of Jan van Eyck, and in his surviving panel paintings we can see that his solutions to problems of composition and his figure types are similar to those of his predecessor. Indeed Christus's delicately wrought and brilliantly coloured works served to popularise the technique and manner of Van Eyck. Some fifteen to twenty works by Christus are known, one of which is The Virgin and Child, probably the surviving part of a triptych for home devotion. Framed by a semi-circular arch resting on slender columns and with a pleasant landscape in the background, the Virgin looks tenderly down at the naked Infant supported on her arm. Every detail has been painted with meticulous care - the minute wrinkles on the Infant's face, the foliage of the trees in the distance and the statuette of Adam and Eve on the columns at the sides, which, in alluding to the Fall, emphasize the coming Redemption through Christ. Other versions and copies have survived, indicating the popularity of this picture over the years, but unfortunately none of them give any clue as to when it was painted or who commissioned it.Artist:CHRISTUS, Petrus Title: Madonna Painted in 1451-1500 , Flemish - - painting : religious
