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Christus, Portrait of a Carthusian
Petrus Christus, Portrait of a Carthusian, 1446 (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Speakers: Dr. David Drogin, Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
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This video discusses legendary stories of how painters demonstrated their skill. I once read a story about how the Pope tried to audition a certain painter. The painter, instead of giving a sample of his work to the pope's messengers, dipped his brush into some red paint and made a circle. The pope's messenger's were horrified. But the pope realized that if this artist could paint a perfect circle freehand, he was truly a great artist. Is this story true? If so, which artist was it about?(17 votes)
The story most likely comes form Giorgio Vasari's "Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times, or Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri, as it was originally known in Italian" (wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Most_Excellent_Painters,_Sculptors,_and_Architects). The wikipedia article on Giotto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giotto references the story.(22 votes)
Given the religious context, could the fly be a reference to Beelzebub?(4 votes)
That's a very keen observation, I think you could be right about that. To clarify for others, Beel-Zebub, is another name for the devil (or sometimes another rank in the demonic hierarchy) which references the cult of flies, order of flies, and my favorite, the Lord of the Flies, for reasons pertaining to more contemporary culture than this painting. With the extent that Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and its ideas had propagated at this time, it's safe to say Christus and observers would know the more detailed and objective visions of hell.
Still, the fly symbolizes the ephemeral nature of human life and the tantalizing concept of eternal damnation. They hint at the second part of that in the video, but they don't make a direct connection to the fly.(12 votes)
On the wall in the background there is a small crescent slash over the monks head. Could this be a subtle halo hidden on a holy man?(4 votes)
No, according to the metmuseum index: "As the incised arc and clumsily-painted halo altered Christus’s original intent and obscured the innovative spatial depth of the picture, it was removed."(3 votes)
Since the Renaissance artists were interested in naturalism and humanism maybe this fly was just flying around when he was painting and since he was looking to present something close to us as human beings he decided to paint the fly(3 votes)
When they say "Northern Renaissance" what is that referring to? Is that simply geographic region or is that a double reference to a style or something as well?(2 votes)- The 'Northern Renaissance' refers to the Renaissance era but the word 'Northern' is in there because although the Renaissance era was centered in Italy, it spread to other countries nearby as well.
The 'Northern' refers to all the Renaissance art, philosophy and architecture outside of Italy.(2 votes)
Why is the monks beard forked?(2 votes)- He's supposed to be young, so if he tried to grow a beard, it would be a little patchy. This is interesting because his beard is also quite long and filled out, so I think Christus is contrasting the idea of the man's youth with his already lifelong Carthusian vows. This monk is certainly a young man, but his days of being naive and beardless are over. That might get a bit deeper than Christus intended, but I'm all about trying to get my point across.(1 vote)
Now who painted this painting?(1 vote)
Video transcript
(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)