Why it matters
A girl in a tall hennin looks straight out at us with a reserved yet alert expression, her slightly misaligned eyes making her gaze all the more intriguing. Set in a realistic, three-dimensional space, it marked a major advance in portraiture and is widely regarded as one of the most exquisite portraits of the Northern Renaissance.
Did you know?
- Petrus Christus painted it late in life, between 1465 and 1470.
- The art historian Joel Upton compared the sitter to 'a polished pearl, almost opalescent, lying on a cushion of black velvet'.
- It builds on the work of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden.
Based on the Wikipedia article Portrait of a Young Girl (Christus) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
