Portrait of a Male Donor
Petrus Christus
Petrus Christus
1410–1475
Petrus Christus was an Early Netherlandish painter active in Bruges from 1444, where, along with Hans Memling, he became the leading painter after the death of Jan van Eyck. He was influenced by van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden and is noted for his innovations with linear perspective and a meticulous technique which seems derived from miniatures and manuscript illumination. Today, some 30 works are confidently attributed to him. The best known include the Portrait of a Carthusian and Portrait of a Young Girl ; both are highly innovative in the presentation of the figure against detailed, rather than flat, backgrounds.
Known works
Madonna of the Dry Tree
Petrus Christus · 1462
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Madonna of the Dry Tree or Our Lady of the Barren Tree is a small oil-on-oak panel painting dated c. 1462 to 1465, attributed to the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus. Its dramatic imagery shows the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child within a tree, surrounded by black, withered branches forming a crown of thorns.
Sources
Invite Petrus Christus into your living room
