Petrus Christus was a Dutch painter active in the fifteenth century. Though drawing on certain elements of traditional Dutch painting, he also was among the first to bring geometric perspective to this particular region. Interestingly, he purchased citizenship in Bruges so that he could join the painters’ guild in the city, which had strict admission requirements.
Christus’s clientele was often from the Mediterranean because of his location in a trade city, and much of his work has an Italian or Spanish provenance, and in turn was influential on Spanish and Italian artists. He would alter his own style to suit the needs of his clients, and he was attentive to minute details. In addition, he innovated the portrait by placing his subjects in corners with two distinct sources of light. The Metropolitan Museum of New York holds a major collection of his work.