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Christus, Petrus |
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Christus, Petrus
(d. 1472/73). Netherlandish painter.
He is first documented at Bruges in 1444, and he is thought by some
authorities to have been the pupil of
Jan van Eyck
and to have completed some of the works left unfinished by the master at
his death in 1444 (e.g.
St Jerome,
Detroit Institute of Arts).
It is certainly true that he was overwhelmingly influenced by van Eyck,
and his copies and variations of his work helped to spread the Eyckian
style. Christus's work is more summary than van Eyck's, however, his
figures sometimes rather doll-like and without van Eyck's feeling of
inner life. The influence of
Rogier van der Weyden
is also evident in Christus's work; the
Lamentation
(Musees Royaux, Brussels)
is clearly based on van der Weyden's great Prado
Deposition,
but the figures have completely lost their dramatic impact.
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 36.7K, 451 x 600 | Portrait of Moses Swaim Painted: after 1446 Panel painting Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin |
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Christus's most personal works are his portraits, notably Edward Grimston (Earl of Verulam Collection, 1446) in which he abandons the dark backgrounds of van Eyck and van der Weyden and places his sitter in a clearly defined interior. His interest in representing space comes out also in his Virgin and Child with Sts Jerome and Francis (Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 1457), the earliest dated example in the north of the use of geometric perspective with a single vanishing point. |