Traditional and Innovative Western Art

Portrait of a Carthusian depicts a three-quarter portrait of anonymous Carthusian monk apprehended in mid-turn, looking exactly at the viewer. Because the monk's body is turned to the right, he should gaze over his left shoulder to look at the viewer, conceiving a rather cumbersome diagonal pose. Petrus Christus balances this out by moving the axis of the monk's face to the right, putting him just off center. By farther modeling the monk's right shoulder more than his left shoulder, Christus sketches one edge of the body nearer to the viewer, supplementing more deepness to the work. The percentages of the monk's face have furthermore been exaggerated; the nose and eyes having been purposefully elongated. The general result is certain thing of an overstated silhouette, a compositional method not often discovered in Early Netherlandish Painting. (Gould 45-69)

The lighting design engaged by Petrus Christus is furthermore noteworthy. The Monk is bathed in strong lightweight, setting his number spectacularly contrary to the space that he occupies. While this powerful, raking lightweight is usual of colleagues like Jan Van Eyck, Christus' supplement of a second, resisting lighting source behind the monk brands this portrait as distinctive. The lightweight on the left appears to be a reflection from inside the room, yet the lightweight bathing the monk appears to be approaching from an external source, possibly an unseen window. The outcome is that lightweight arrives from both in and out-of-doors the pictorial space, with the monk (particularly along the hood of his cloak) being the gathering issue of the two. The monk is thus bordered by two lighting structure, permitting Christus to provide work a much fuller and more affluent spectrum of colors and shadowing than a single-source lighting structure would. This convoluted lighting design is the cause Portrait of a Carthusian seems completely 3-dimensional and realistic. (Blunt 45-69)

Portrait of a Carthusian sports a Trompe l'oeil go by plane on its smaller right-hand corner. The supplement of Trompe l'oeil soars to works of art is accepted to have started in the 15th 100 years, right as Christus became active. Art Historians are usually divide between two distinct interpretations of their use. Many art historians accept as factual the go by plane to contain devout symbolism, purposes as connotations of sin, corruption, death, etc. Art historian accepts as factual that a go by plane was utilised to remind such pictures in attachment with Satan's moniker Beezelbub - The Lord of the Flies. More lately, art historians are starting to outlook the addition of Trompe l'oeil soars as a expert calling business card, with art historian Felix Thülemann recounting it as “a selfconscious representation of better painterly prowess. It is accepted that this is why the go by plane usually seems besides the artist's signature (the fly's place right besides 'Petrus Xdi Me Fecit' hinting that the go by plane might be the referent of 'me' and thus the creator of the work.)

Portrait of a Carthusian boasted a halo overhead the monk's ...