Christus, Petrus (c. 1410–1472/73)

Flemish painter. He was a citizen of Bruges from 1444 and follower of Jan van Eyck (some of whose paintings he may have completed after the master's death). His Madonna with Two Saints (1457; Städel, Frankfurt) is an early example of the use of perspective in northern European art.

His portraits, such as Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1450; Staatliche Museum, Berlin), have a gentle sensuality and inward gaze unlike the starker realism of his contemporaries. His two major works are the Legend of St Eloi with its minute detailing of jewel and metal, texture, and reflection; and the Lamentation (c. 1457; Brussels), exquisite in its play of line and detail.