Portrait of a Carthusian
Petrus Christus
1446. Oil on canvas. 29.2x18.7 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.A portrait of a Carthusian monk by 15th-century Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus. The work incorporates an early example of trompe-l'œil in panel painting: a fly rendered on the painted illusionistic frame directly above the artist's signature and date. The sitter is positioned in a enclosed three-dimensional space illuminated by two distinct light sources that project shadows onto the interior wall.