2590. A WOMAN AT A WINDOW.
2591. THE FORGE.
Gabriel Metsu (Dutch: 1630-1667). See 838.
2592. FRUIT PIECE.
W. K. Heda (Dutch: 1594-1678). See 1469.
2593. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
Petrus Cristus (Flemish: about 1410-1472).
Cristus was born at Baerle, near Ghent. He purchased the right of citizenship at Bruges in 1444—that is, four years after the death of Jan van Eyck. He cannot therefore have been a pupil of that master, as has often been surmised; but he belongs to the school of the Van Eycks "by his realistic style, by the extreme care he bestowed on details, by his bold and powerful colouring, and by the tasteful arrangement of his draperies and interiors. But his works can never be mistaken for those of Van Eyck; his outline is often harsh, his types are wanting in character; his figures, designed and executed with very inferior skill, are not painted in the same impressive manner as those of the great master" (Wauters). The portrait of a Venetian consul (No. 696) is ascribed to him.
Acquired by Mr. Salting from the Earl of Northbrook's collection; No. 10 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1892—remarkable for the preciseness and microscopic minuteness of hand displayed in it. The portrait of a devout and studious young man. He holds an open book; and on the wall of his chamber there is hung a board on which an illuminated sheet of vellum, edged with a narrow red riband, has been nailed. The miniature at the top of it represents the Vernacle (our Lord's head with cruciform nimbus and rays); and below is a rhymed prayer, headed Incipit oratio ad sanctam Veronicam, and continuing "Salve sancta facies Nostri redemptoris," etc.