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Portrait of a Carthusian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Portrait of a Carthusian
ArtistPetrus Christus
Year1446
Typeoil on wood
Dimensions29.2 cm × 21.6 cm (11+12 in × 8+12 in)
LocationMetropolitan Museum of Art
Accession49.7.19

Portrait of a Carthusian is a painting in oils on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus in 1446. The work is part of the Jules Bache Collection housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

It is regarded as a masterpiece of Early Netherlandish painting and, because of the fly painted towards the bottom of the painting, a prominent, early example of trompe-l'œil. In 2020, the painting became a meme after the subject was compared to a Northeast Philadelphia local.[1]

YouTube Encyclopedic

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  • Christus, Portrait of a Carthusian
  • Кристус, "Портрет картезианца", 1446 г.
  • Velázquez, Vulcan's Forge

Transcription

(piano playing) Dr. David Drogin: Okay, we are looking at the painting Portrait of a Carthusian Monk by Petrus Christus, dated to 1446. It's a small oil on wood painting that's in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Dr. Beth Harris: And boy, does it look so obviously northern Renaissance to me. I mean, the way that we can see every unflattering detail about this man's face including those veins bulging on his forehead. Dr. Drogin: And even though he's probably a relatively young man, you can still see the wrinkles around his eyes. That's the very typical, incredible attention to texture and detail that's so characteristic of Flemish portrait painting in addition to we're talking about portraiture in the 1440's, the fact that it's in a three-quarter profile with light coming from multiple directions. The rather rigid, or thick folding of the fabric, all of these things ... Dr. Harris: Very northern Renaissance. Dr. Drogin: ... very, very typically northern. Dr. Harris: And, of course, they also tell us that it's made with oil paintings. Dr. Drogin: Right, and of course in Italy, oil paint is not being used at this time and they're still using tempera. You know, when we talk about the texture it's interesting to look at the hair, for instance, because Petrus Christus being very observant has shown how the hair on the top of the head, growing out of the top of his head is different than the hair that's growing in his beard. In fact, that hair is different and he's capturing that in this small image and we should add that this painting is smaller than life size. I mean, it's only about eight inches tall. Dr. Harris: So, you're saying that he has all this sort of fine hair growing from his beard ... Dr. Drogin: Yep. Dr. Harris: ... but there's this sort of thicker, mop of hair on the top. Dr. Drogin: Exactly. Dr. Harris: Yeah. Dr. Drogin: And also the attention to the effects of light and shadow, not only, as you say, picking out the details in the skin, but also the shadows falling on his white robe. Dr. Harris: Yeah, they really ... that's the sort of close, very intensely closely observed light. Dr. Drogin: Yep, absolutely. It's all typical. One detail that's especially interesting about this painting is down at the bottom. It's painted at the bottom as if Petrus Christus has carved his name in a wooden ledge. It says, 'Petrus Christus Made Me 1446' as the signature, but then right above that what you see is a little fly. Dr. Harris: Is he saying that he made the fly? Dr. Drogin: Well, he's saying that he made everything, including the fly. You know, we have to ask, "Why is the fly there?" And there are several different answers and they probably all together are a good answer. One thing is that the fly is very, very small, but still you can see the two little transparent wings and it's tiny fly legs ... Dr. Harris: It's amazing detail. Dr. Drogin: ... and it's little fly hairs and so he's really showing off what he can do. You know, all Flemish artists at this time ... Dr. Harris: How did they do that tiny little details like that? Dr. Drogin: Sometimes they used ... Dr. Harris: Really like close up to the painting. Dr. Drogin: Close, maybe they used magnifying glasses, sometimes they used brushes that had only one hair. Dr. Harris: (laughing) I believe it. Dr. Drogin: This is in part to show off his incredible skill and the other thing is, you know these portraits are, in a way, celebrations of life. I mean, this is a very vital looking young man. He has blood flowing through his veins as you can see in the veins that are represented in his temple. Dr. Harris: Yeah, and he looks at us in a very engaging way. Dr. Drogin: Exactly. He's very much alive, but the inclusion of a fly is maybe to remind us that life is short. That mortality is always with us and death is always around the corner because flies, of course, are normally found around things that are decaying. Dr. Harris: Right. Dr. Drogin: So, this fly at the bottom is to remind the viewer that even though this person might be in the flower of his life and looking very vital and strong and living that always death is around the bend. Dr. Harris: So, is this a memento mori? Dr. Drogin: In a way it's like that and it's a reminder to people to live a good life and, of course, for a monk especially to be a good Christian because death is always coming and then your time is up. Dr. Harris: Right and the idea being that because death could be at any time that one should always be prepared for one's salvation. Dr. Drogin: Absolutely. Dr. Harris: So, this is interpreted in a very Christian context. Dr. Drogin: Right, there's also a couple of other things about the fly. Later on, there's a story that Giotto, the 14th century painter, when he was a student painted a fly on one of his teacher's paintings and that it looked so real that Chima Boerse who reportedly was ... Dr. Harris: His teacher. Dr. Drogin: ... his teacher, reached out to swipe the fly away. Dr. Harris: Right. Dr. Drogin: And it was just a statement of how good Giotto was. That story really is a popular 16th century story, but it may have already been floating around and this might be in a way a reference to that kind of skill. Dr. Harris: Right, but that sort of artist being able to make things so real that they're mistaken for reality. Dr. Drogin: Absolutely and our references can go even further back because in Pliny, the classical writer, he writes a story about a competition between two artists. Two painters who were arguing who was better and one painter paints a bunch of grapes and as he's showing it to the other painter a bird flies down and flies into the painting and so the painter of the grapes says that he is triumphant because he's fooled nature. So, then the other painter paints his image, which is hidden behind a curtain and as the first painter reaches out to pull the curtain aside, he touches the painting and realizes that ... Dr. Harris: It's no curtain. Dr. Drogin: There is no curtain. That's the painting. Then the second painter says, "Well, you might have fooled nature, but I have fooled man and therefore I am the winner." Maybe if Petrus Christus, who we know was very well educated, if this was a story that he might have been familiar with ... Dr. Harris: Maybe. Dr. Drogin: ... maybe his fly, in addition to showing off his skill and in addition to reminding us about mortality, is in a way a conflation of those two artists in one because he has fooled nature. A fly has come and landed on his seal that's fake, but he's also fooled you because you're tempted to reach out and swipe away this fly that's landed there. Dr. Harris: Yeah. Dr. Drogin: So, it really could be referencing all of these different things and adding an important dimension to this 15th century portrait. Dr. Harris: And it just speaks to the importance in western tradition from ancient Greeks and Romans through the Renaissance through the current day of the importance of, or the expectation that we have and the high value that we place on realism and naturalism in art. Dr. Drogin: Yes, very much so. Dr. Harris: On that scale. Dr. Drogin: Especially when representing a secular image like the portrait of a real living individual. Dr. Harris: Yep. (piano playing)

Overview

The monk

Portrait of a Carthusian depicts a three-quarter portrait of anonymous Carthusian monk captured in mid-turn, gazing directly at the viewer. Because the monk's body is turned to his left, he must look over his right shoulder to gaze at the viewer, creating a somewhat cumbersome diagonal pose. Petrus Christus balances this out by shifting the axis of the monk's face to the right, placing him just off center.[2] By further modeling the monk's right shoulder more than his left shoulder, Christus draws one side of the body closer to the viewer, adding more depth to the work.[2] The proportions of the monk's face have also been exaggerated; the nose and eyes having been purposefully elongated. The overall effect is something of an exaggerated silhouette, a compositional technique not often found in Early Netherlandish painting.[3]

Space and lighting

The lighting scheme employed by Petrus Christus is also noteworthy. The Monk is bathed in intense light, setting his figure dramatically against the space that he occupies. While this strong, raking light is typical of contemporaries like Jan van Eyck, Christus’ addition of a second, opposing lighting source behind the monk marks this portrait as distinctive.[2] The light on the left seems to be a reflection from within the room, yet the light bathing the monk seems to be coming from an external source, perhaps an unseen window. The result is that light comes from both in and outside the pictorial space, with the monk (particularly along the hood of his cloak) being the meeting point of the two.[2] The monk is therefore framed by a two-source lighting structure, allowing Christus to employ a much fuller and richer spectrum of colors and shading than a single-source lighting structure would. This complex lighting scheme is the reason Portrait of a Carthusian appears fully 3-dimensional and realistic.

The fly and trompe-l'œil

Detail with inscriptions and fly

Portrait of a Carthusian sports a trompe-l'œil fly on the center of its trompe-l'œil lower frame. The addition of trompe-l'œil flies to works of art is believed to have begun in the 15th century, right as Christus became active. Art Historians are generally split between two different interpretations of their use. Many art historians believe the fly to hold religious symbolism, functions as connotations of sin, corruption, mortality, etc.[4] Art historians believe that a fly was used to evoke such images in connection with Satan’s moniker Beelzebub—the Lord of the Flies. More recently, art historians are beginning to view the inclusion of trompe-l'œil flies as a professional calling card, with art historian Felix Thülemann describing it as “a selfconscious representation of superior painterly prowess.[5] It is believed that this is why the fly generally appears next to the artist’s signature[4] (the fly’s position right next to ‘Petrus ΧΡΙ Me Fecit’ hinting that the fly might be the referent of ‘me’ rather than the painting.)

Halo and 1994 restoration

Portrait of a Carthusian before removal of the halo

Portrait of a Carthusian featured a halo above the monk's head when it was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1944. However, halos are extremely rare in Early Netherlandish painting and the one in Portrait of a Carthusian had long been an object of speculation. Finally in 1994, in preparation for the Met's exhibition Petrus Christus: Renaissance Master of Bruges, the authenticity of the halo was publicly examined by a panel of Early Netherlandish specialists and determined to be an addition.[3] The team generally agreed that halo was probably added in Spain in the 17th century—imitating an Italian trend—where it became part of the collection of Don Ramon de Oms, viceroy of Majorca, who sold the work to American industrialist Jules Bache in 1911. The team recommended that the halo be removed to make the painting more aesthetically authentic. Christus was one of the first Netherlandish painters to really play with the illusion of space and light. The addition of the halo, though, forced the viewer to look at the foreground and therefore framed the space in a way Christus never intended.[6] Since the removal of the halo, the Met has gone on to delete other dubious halos from Christus works, most notably in Portrait of a Goldsmith.[3]

References

  1. ^ "This 15th century Carthusian monk looks exactly like a dude from Northeast Philly". Billy Penn. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  2. ^ a b c d Upton, Joel (1990). Petrus Christus: His Place in Fifteenth-Century Flemish Painting. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-00672-2.
  3. ^ a b c "Review: Petrus Christus. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art". The Burlington Magazine. 136 (1098): 639–641. 1994.
  4. ^ a b "Steven Connor". www.stevenconnor.com.
  5. ^ "Deception and Illusion: Five Centuries of Trompe L'Oeil Painting" (Press release). National Gallery of Art. 2002. Archived from the original on September 28, 2004.
  6. ^ Ainsworth, Maryan W. "Intentional Alterations of Early Netherlandish Painting – Essay – Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History – The Metropolitan Museum of Art". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.

Further reading

  1. ^ "Christus's Portrait of a Carthusian". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
This page was last edited on 24 September 2023, at 05:50
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