Petrus Christus: A Reconstructed Triptych with an Italian Motif

* I wish to thank Dr. Lotte Brand Philip and Dr. Charles Minott for their interest and helpful suggestions. After this article was completed, I was gratified to learn that this reconstruction was discussed briefly by J. Levenson in her unpublished Master's thesis, “Petrus Christus and the Rational Use of Space” (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1965, 43–45), who there credits Charles Sterling with having suggested it in a lecture course at the Institute of Fine Arts. Professor Sterling, however, informs me that he did not in fact suggest this reconstruction, but another (recently the subject of an article by L. Gellman in the Burlington Magazine, 112, 1970, 143–48) which he will discuss in the March, 1971 Art Bulletin. The spatial aspects of the triptych were considered briefly in Miss Levenson's Master's thesis, 43–45.

Abstract

In the literature on Petrus Christus, historians have often considered the possibility that he may have travelled to Italy.¹ Support for the belief in such a trip usually has been based on the mention of a “Piero di Burges” working at the court of Milan in 1456,² although this reference has not been identified positively with Petrus Christus. As additional proof for the journey, Germain Bazin points out that no less than eight of about twenty-five extant works by Christus were acquired in Italy and Spain or still remain there.³ Furthermore, as early as 1492 the inventory of the collection of Lorenzo de’ Medici lists “una tavoletta dipintovi di una testa di dama franzese cholorita a olio, opera di Pietro Cresti da Bruggia.”⁴ The aim of this study is to consider an Italian motif in a triptych by Christus, in an attempt to prove at least a definite Italian influence on the work if not an actual southern journey.