Petrus Christus

Petrus Christus (c. 1410–1475/76) became Bruges' leading painter after the death of Jan van Eyck. Born in Baarle, a village near Antwerp and Breda, he purchased citizenship in Bruges on July 6, 1444, exactly three years after van Eyck died. Had he been van Eyck's apprentice, guild rules would have granted him citizenship automatically after one year. So while he inherited van Eyck's position, he may not have been his student. Recent scholarship suggests his work shows equal influence from Dirk Bouts, Robert Campin, and Rogier van der Weyden.

Christus made lasting contributions to Early Netherlandish painting. His 1457 Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Francis and Jerome is the first Northern painting to demonstrate accurate linear perspective, a technique he may have learned through Italian merchants in Bruges. Nearly half his paintings were commissioned by Italians or soon copied in Italy and Spain. His Portrait of a Carthusian (1446) and Portrait of a Young Girl (c. 1470) broke new ground by placing figures against detailed backgrounds rather than flat surfaces.

About 30 paintings are now attributed to him, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art holding five of them. The Groeningemuseum in Bruges displays key works. His Last Judgment, commissioned by the Florentine Angelo Tani in 1467, was captured by pirates en route to Italy and ended up in Gdańsk, where it remains at the National Museum. Christus was listed among Bruges' wealthiest citizens by 1480. He died around 1475 or 1476, leaving behind a son who was also a painter.